I STORY OF 
THE UNITED STATES 
FOR BEGINNER' 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Cliai)£('J?^Copyright No.. 



8helfT<Sa. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
FOR BEGINNERS 



jTlg&<^o 



A HISTORY OF 
THE UNITED STATES 

FOR BEGINNERS 



FOR USE IN 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



BY 

W. B. POWELL, A.M. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1900 

All rights reserved 

I 



11441 



Two Cep«s ttctirvtai j 
JUN 27 1900 

S£C^vn TKDff^.. 
OROtF D«V»Sf<W., 

JUL__7 1900 



64904 

Copyright, 1900 



Br THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 






^ount ©Icasant H^rintctp 

J. Horace McFarland Company 
Harrisburg, Pa. 



PREFACE 

This book was prepared especially for the use 
of children in the intermediate grades of school. 
However, it is, the author believes, also well adapted 
to use by the young as home reading. The text 
gives, in connected discourse, a sequential view of 
the leading events of the history of the United 
States, for which the learner is prepared by a series 
of easy lessons in civil government. It makes plain 
many causes of events that greatly interest the 
learner. A consideration of these gives to the mind 
of the child added interest in events and broadens 
his outlook on historical movements. The sequential 
presentation claimed for the book allows or compels 
a use of English idiom, a study of which, in con- 
nection with the effort of the child when reproducing 
or reciting, may be made to serve as valuable train- 
ing in the use of language. 

The text is intended to be suggestive in recitation 
of much profitable work in place geography and 
work, also for securing a correct view of the logic 
of culture geography. Geography and growth of 

(v) 



N 



vi Preface 

industrial life, and, to some extent, geography and 
institutional life when studied aright are seen to be 
co-dependent. 

The book was made for the purpose of furnishing 
the young child reading matter well within his com- 
prehension, and hence interesting to him, which will 
give him a connected view of the principal move- 
ments and events of our history, to serve as sequen- 
tial nuclei for the correct and ready placement of 
acquisitions secured by later study and reading. 



CONTENTS 

Part I 

GOVERNMENT 

PAGE 

A Brief Study in Government and Geography 1 

State; Territorial; District; National; The President; The 
Inauguration of a President; Mount Vernon; George Wash- 
ington. 

Part II 

THE COLONIES 

A Preparatory Historical Study, together with a Study of 

Place Geography 26 

The Colonies; Trouble in the Colonies; The Revolution; 
The Declaration of Independence; The Stars and Stripes; 
Peace; Trouble; A Constitution ; The. First President; The 
First Inauguration ; The District of Columbia and the 
Capital; More States; Washington Elected Again. 

Part III 

THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

1. The Discovery of America 53 

Christopher Columbus ; The New World ; John Cabot ; 
America. 

2. Virginia 62 

Sir Walter Raleigh ; Jamestown ; John Smith ; English 
Women; Tobacco; Plantations; Boroughs; Bond -Servants; 
Slaves; Indians; House of Burgesses. 

(vii) 



viii Contents 

PAGE 

o. Massachusetts 83 

Puritans; Pilgrims; Plymouth; Massachusetts Bay; Bos- 
ton ; Towns ; The Church ; Farms ; Slaves and Bond- Ser- 
vants ; The General Court ; The Colony of Massachusetts ; 
Virginia and Massachusetts. 

4. New York 99 

Henry Hudson ; New Netherlands ; The Fur Trade ; Dutch" 
Towns; Landed Proprietors; Dutch Governors; Peter Stuy- 
vesant; New York. 

5. Maryland ■. 109 

The Calverts; The Maryland Colonists; Baltimore. 

6. New England 113 

Connecticut ; New Haven ; The Two Settlements United ; 
Roger Williams : Providence ; Mrs. Hutchinson ; Rhode 
Island. 

7. The Middle Colonies 118 

New Sweden; Delaware a Part of New Netherlands; Dela- 
ware a Part of New York ; New Jersey ; Quakers ; William 
Penn ; Philadelphia; Delaware a Part of Pennsylvania. 

8. Other Colonies 12G 

The Extreme Northern Colonies ; The Extreme Southern 
Colonies; The Carolinas; North Carolina; South Carolina; 
Georgia. 

9. Indians 132 

Indian Tribes; Indian Homes; Indian W^omen ; The Indian 
as a Hunter; The Indian as a Warrior; The Indian Papoose; 
The Indians and the Colonists. 

10. The French 143 

New France ; The Iroquois ; King William's War ; Queen 
Anne's War; King George's War; French and Indian War. 

11. Causes of the Revolution 152 

Taxation; The Import Duty; Writs of Assistance ; The 
Stamp Act; Duty on Tea. 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

12. The Revolution 1G4 

The First Bloodshed; In the North; In the South; General 
Marion ; Marquis Lafayette ; Benjamin Franklin ; Peace ; 
Difficulties at the Close of the War. 

13. Our Country at the Close of the War 184 

Travel; Dress; The Patriotic Spirit; New States; Robert 
Fulton; Louisiana; Thomas Jefferson. 

14. The War of 1812 200 

Causes of the War; End of the War; Andrew Jackson; 
George Stephenson. 

15. The Mexican War 211 

The West. 

16. The Civil War 215 

Abraham Lincoln ; Lincoln as a Young Man ; Lincoln as a 
Lawyer ; The Slavery Question ; Missouri Compromise ; 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill ; Lincoln Elected President ; The 
Confederate States of America ; The War ; The Emancipa- 
tion of the Slaves. 

17. Since the War 244 

Progress of the United States ; The West ; Chicago ; Con- 
trast. 

18. Recent Territorial Expansion 260 

Alaska; Hawaii; Porto Rico; The Philippine Islands. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

1. The Capitol at Washington 11 

2. William McKinley 14 

3. George Washington 24 

4. Mohawk Indian Tomahawk and Pipe 27 

5. The Flag of 1775 41 

G. The Flag of 1777 41 

7. Washington taking the Oath of Office 48 

8. Christopher Columbus . . . 5G 

9. Sir Walter Raleigh 65 

10. Captain John Smith 69 

11. Indian Earthenware 78 

12. A Virginia Cavalier 81 

13. The Mayflower 85 

14. Puritan Costume (male) 94 

15. Puritan Costume (female) 95 

16. Dutch Costume (male) . . . . - 102 

17. Dutch Costume (female) 103 

18. Roger Williams 115 

19. William Penn 124 

20. Oglethorpe 130 

21. Indian Canoe 133 

22. Indian Wigv\am 135 

23. Indian Woman and Papoose 136 

24. Indian Weapons 138 

25. Indian Earthenware 139 

26. Indian Head-Dress 140 

27. Indian Bows 141 

(xi) 



xii List of Illustrations 

PAGE 

28. Robert Chevalier de la Salle 145 

29. King George the Third 154 

30. Boston in the Time of the Revolution 163 

31. The Minute Man 165 

32. General Washington Reviewing his Army 169 

33. Francis Marion 173 

34. Lafayette 176 

35. Benjamin Franklin 181 

36. Old-Time Family Coach 187 

37. Dress of the Time of the Revolution (male) 188 

38. Dress of the Time of the Revolution Cfemale) 189 

39. Robert Fulton 191 

40. Thomas Jefferson 195 

41. A Naval Battle of 1812 202 

42. Andrew Jackson 207 

43. George Stephenson 210 

44. Abraham Lincoln 221 

45. Eli Whitney 225 

46. Robert E. Lee 236 

47. General Ulysses S. Grant 241 

48. Driving the Last Spike of the Union Pacific Railroad, 1869 . . 250 

49. Court of Honor, World's Fair 255 

50. View of Matanzas, Cuba 263 

51. Admiral Dewey 267 

52. View of Manila 268 

53. The Flag of Today 271 



LIST OF MAPS 

PAGE 

1 The United States facing 8 

2. District of Columbia and Vicinity 20 

3. Tlie Colonies facing 30 

4. The North Atlantic Ocean 59 

5. The United States at the Close of the Revolution 183 

G. The United States in 1803 2U0 

7. The United States in 1853 M'ing 212 

8. The Free and Slave States faciug 228 

9. The United States, Her Island Possessions and Alaska . . facing 2G0 



(xiil) 



A History of the United States 
for Beginners 



PART I 

GOVERNMENT 

A BRIEF STUDY IN GOVERNMENT AND 
GEOGRAPHY 

Is your home in a city, or in a little town or we do not 
village ? Perhaps you live in the country. ourselves 

If your home is in some city or town, you aione. 
probably have a cousin or other friend living in 
the country, whom you have visited. If you 
live in the country, you have no doubt visited 
some city to see friends. 

What is the largest city you have ever 
seen ? Is it far from your home I Perhaps 
you traveled a long distance on the railroad be- 
fore you reached that city. Is it in the same 
state as the one in which you live ? What is 
the name of your state ? In what other states 
have you been? What other states can you 
name ! In what direction from you does each 
of these states lie? 

A man living on an island of the sea, alone, 
without the companionship of other men, may 

(1) 



Government 



We must 
consult the 
pleasure of 
others. 



act just as he pleases in all things. Because 
he is alone, what he does concerns himself 
only. No one else is influenced by his actions. 
If a man were living on the summit of a high, 
dreary mountain, where there were no other per- 
sons, he also might do as he pleased. No one 
else would be affected by his actions. 

Few people, however, live on desert islands 
or on the summits of dreary mountains. Man 
seeks the society of other men. People live in 
communities. They live in large cities, in 
towns, in villages or hamlets, or on farms, with 
other farms close by. 

Because people live in communities, each man 
may not act just as he i)leases in every way, for 
that which would suit him best might be very 
disagreeable to his neighbors. 

At home you have breakfast at a certain 
hour. You have some rules or customs which 
all the members of the family observe. Who 
decides such things ? Your father and mother. 
They govern the home, and you must act in 
accordance with their decisions. 

At the opening of school you and your 
schoolmates sing for five or ten minutes with 
the teacher. Perhaps you do not like singing. 
But the teacher, who occupies much the same 
position in the school -room that your father and 
mother do at home, knows that most of the 
children do like to sing, and therefore gives 
time to it. So you sing with the rest. The 



The Good of the Greatest Number 3 

teacher gives you a lesson in arithmetic lasting 
an hour, and a lesson in history lasting but 
half an hour. Perhaps you like history very 
much, but have great difficulty in solving arith- 
metical problems. You would prefer to have 
the history lesson last an hour, and would de- 
vote only half an hour to the arithmetic. The 
teacher knows the subject in which her pupils 
need most training at any given time in their 
progress. She gives the matter much thought, 
and does what she thinks will do the majority 
of her pupils the greatest good. 

When driving along a road, we are expected 
to turn to the right, to give those whom we 
meet their share of the roadway. This is a 
custom which peoj)le in the United States have 
chosen to follow to avoid collisions. 

There are likely to be persons in a com- 
munity who are not willing to follow the cus- 
toms which their fellow-citizens think are good 
for the entire community. It therefore be- 
comes necessary to enforce these customs by 
laws, so that anyone not doing what is right 
may be punished. The custom of keeping to 
the right in driving, for instance, has been en- 
forced by law. Consequently the person who 
drives to the left instead of to the right may 
be punished for violating a law which has been 
decided to be just. And also 

In cities and villages people drive in the *^^^' . ^ 

~ -'--'- convenience 

streets, while those walking keep on the side- and safety. 



4 Government 

walks. If men were allowed to drive carriages, 
express wagons, and other vehicles on the side- 
walks, persons walking wonld be in constant 
danger of being run over. If pedestrians were 
allowed to walk in the streets, between the 
curbs, drivers could make but little i:)rogress, 
and would have to be constantly on the alert 
to avoid running over some one. These are 
customs adopted for the convenience and safety 
of all. They are enforced by laws. 

Boys may play ball in the park or on the 
common, or on a vacant lot, but they must not 
do so on the public streets. This is law. Win- 
dows might be broken, and little children as 
well as grown people might be hurt. 

Thus you see that not only are there laws 
and customs of the home and the school -room, 
but that the people of a little settlement, of a 
village, of a town, and of a city need rules or 
laws to prevent constant conflict with one 
another. If everyone should so conduct him- 
self as to satisfy his own desires and his own 
impulses, without regard to the welfare, hap- 
piness and rights of his neighbors, discord, 
quarreling and fighting would result. Then 
he who should prove the stronger, the quicker, 
or the more cunning, would gain his end. 
An absolute In somc couutrics the people are governed 
by a king or czar. He makes the laws, which 
the people must obey. The people may be 
compelled to do many things which they 



ruler. 



Our Republic 5 

dislike, but they must obey their ruler or be 
punished. 

In our country we do not have an absolute '^^^ p^^p^® 

^g ru.l6rs 

ruler. But we must have laws. We must have 
a government. The people discuss matters, try 
to find out what will be best for the greatest 
number, and then pass laws, which all must 
obey. But your father who, perhaps, is a mer- 
chant, or your uncle who is in the big shops, 
or your brother who works all day in the office, 
cannot give his time to the making of laws. 
Other men, too, are busy with the affairs of 
life. So the people of each community choose 
from their numbers certain persons to make the 
laws for them. These men are selected by the 
people, who vote for the men of their choice. 
After they have made the laws the people are 
expected to observe them. 

After laws have been made it is necessary The choice 
that they should be enforced, or executed. ^^''^''''^ 
Otherwise there would be no use in having 
laws. The people choose the most important 
officers, whose duty it is to see that the laws are 
enforced. Some of these are api3ointed by 
higher officers, whom the people elect. Who is 
mayor of your city! Do you know any other 
city official I Have you ever talked with the 
policeman, who sees that no one breaks into 
your house? The duty of each of these men 
is to enforce the laws. Do you know which 
men were appointed and which were elected ! 



6 Government 

The people of a town elect town officers. 

The people of a city elect city officers. 

The people of a county elect county officers. 

The people of a state elect citizens who make 
the laws to govern the affairs of the state, and 
officers to execute them. And the people of the 
whole country, that is of all the states, elect 
men whose duty it is to make the laws by which 
the people of the entire nation are governed. 
Since the people choose the men who make the 
laws as well as most of those who enforce them, 
you see the government of our nation rests in 
the hands of the people themselves. 

STATE 

Each state The pcople of cach state, whether they live 
governs '^^ ^ ^^^j^ ^ towu, or a villagc, govern them- 
selves. There are so many people in each state, 
however, and they are scattered over so great a 
territory, that it would be impossible for all the 
people to assemble for the purpose of making 
laws. The state, therefore, is divided into many 
districts, and the people of each district choose 
from among their number such men as they 
think will serve them best, to meet from time 
to time for the purpose of making the laws for 
their state. These men form the state legis- 
lature. The place where they assemble is the 
capital of the state. In some states the legis- 
lature is called by another name. 



State 7 

Each state legislature consists of two The 
branches, the upper house and the lower house, ^^s'^^^^^'*®- 
The manner of electing members of these two 
branches of the legislature differs in different 
states. It will be an interesting lesson for you, 
with the aid of your teacher, to find out how 
your father and brothers are represented at the 
capital. Find out why there are two branches 
of the legislature. 

You see that, since the members of a state Representa 
legislature are chosen by the people, the meet- community, 
ing of the legislature is almost like a meeting 
of the people themselves. Each man who is 
sent to the state capital is a representative of 
a community of people; he is a neighbor or 
friend, a fellow-townsman of those who choose 
him. The men who form the legislature of a 
state make the laws which govern the people 
living within that state. Each man in the legis- 
lature has as his special care the interests of 
the people who choose him to be their repre- 
sentative. 

There are forty- five states in this country, Forty-five 
each one of which has a government of its own. 
Each state has a capital city, which is the home 
of the government of that state. What is the 
capital city of your state ? Is it the largest city 
in the state? 

The laws of the state must be enforced, or The 
executed, as you know. The chief officer in g^^^rBor. 
each state, whose duty it is to enforce the laws 



His term of 
office. 



8 Government 

which the legislature passes, is its governor. 
He is chosen by the people of his state. 

In some states the governor serves only one 
year, while in others he is elected for a term of 
two years, and in others for terms of three 
years or four years. 

Who is the governor of your state ? When 
was he elected? When will another election 
for governor take place! 



The 
territories. 



Their gov- 
ernment. 



TEKKITORIAL 

In the southwestern part of the United States 
there are portions of the country not yet 
admitted to the Union as states. 

There are three of these territories, as they 
are called, — Arizona, New Mexico, and Okla- 
homa. 

The people of each territory choose a legis- 
lature, which makes the laws by which they are 
governed. But the people living in a territory 
do not choose their own governor. He is 
appointed by the President of tlie United States. 



DISTRICT 



other 
possessions. 



Besides the forty- five states and the three 
territories, the United States owns six other 
areas of land — the District of Columbia, the 
Indian Territory, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, 
Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. 



105' LoD-itnde 100° West 




Longitude 100" West 



'5' Greenwich 90 




jreeuwich 



District 9 

The District of Columbia is on the Potomac The Dii^trict 
River between the states of Virginia and Mary- of Columbia. 
land. The city of Washington, the cajiital of 
the United States, is within its territory. 

The District of Columbia has neither legis- 
lature nor governor. How it is governed wo 
shall soon learn. 

The Indian Territory is an extent of land set The Indian 
aside for the use of Indians, who live there pro- Territory. 
tected by the United States. The Indians have 
no government of their own. The President 
appoints a governor for the Indian Territory, 
whose duty it is to look out for the interests of 
the tribes. 

In 1889 that part of Indian Territory which 
is now called Oklahoma w^as bought from the 
Indians and thrown open to settlement by wdiito 
people. A new territory, with a territorial gov- 
ernment, was thus made. (1890.) 

Alaska is governed by the laws of the state of Alaska. 
Oregon, but the President of the United States 
appoints the governor. 

The Hawaiian Islands, Porto Eico, and the Hawaii. 
Philippine Islands have but recently come into Tiirphint 
the possession of the United States. The man- pines, 
ner by w^hich these islands shall be governed, 
as possessions of this country, has not yet been 
determined. 

NATIQ-NAL 

The law^s made by the legislature of any ^ndlhei^^ 
state or territory do not apply to the people force. 



10 Government 

living in any other state or territory. As con- 
ditions are not tlie same in tlie various states, 
the laws of one state might not be at all satis- 
factory to the people living in another state. 

But each state and territory is a part of the 
United States, and each state is closely allied 
to other states by common interests. A great 
many laws are needed which will apply to all 
states and territories taken together as a nation, 
as the United States. 

The people of a state make the laws for that 
state, and the same people, as citizens of the 
United States, help to make the laws which 
apply to the whole nation. 

Each state chooses a certain number of its 
citizens to go to Washington, the national 
capital, to represent it. These men assemble 
in the capitol building, with the men chosen by 
the people of every other state, to make laws 
which apply to every part of the United States, 
The which laws every one in the nation must obey. 

These representatives form the national legisla- 
ture, which we call the Congress of the United 
States, which assembles every year on the first 
Monday in December. 
The Senate. LilvC tlic statc Icgislaturcs, Congress is com- 
posed of two houses. In the Senate, the upper 
house, are two senators from each state, what- 
ever may be its size, population or location. 
No one of the territories nor the District of 
Columbia has senators to represent it. Do you 



National 
Legislature. 



National 



11 



know the names of the men who represent 
your state in the United States Senate at Wash- 
ington? For how many years is a senator 
elected? 

The number of members in the lower house, The House, 
the House of Eepresentatives, differs accord- 
ing to the population of the various states 




The Capitol at ^VASHI^;uTu^'. 



respectively. The state of Nevada, for in- 
stance, although it has two senators, has but 
one representative in the lower house, because 
the population of Nevada is not now very large, state repre- 
New York state, because of the great number 
of people within its boundaries, has a repre- 
sentation in the lower house of 34 members 



sentation. 



12 



Government 



The govern- 
ment of the 
District of 
Cohirabia. 



What the 

Senate 

represents. 



(1899), yet it lias but two senators, like 
Nevada. Each of the three territories has 
in the House of Eepresentatives one re^^re- 
sentative or delegate, who may speak on all 
subjects coming before the house, but who 
has not the right to vote. 

The District of Columbia is neither a state 
nor a territory, for, as it is set aside for the 
home of the government of the United States, 
it is really a part of each and every state and 
territory, and belongs to all the people of the 
United States. For this reason it has no legis- 
lature or governor of its own. It has no repre- 
sentation in the United States Congress. The 
men whom the different states send to Wash- 
ington to legislate for the nation pass all the 
laws by which the people of the District of 
Columbia are governed, and the President 
appoints three men whose duty it is to see 
that such laws as Congress passes for the 
government of the District of Columbia are 
properly enforced. Each man in Congress, from 
whatever state or territory he may come, acts 
toward the District of Columbia as if it were a 
part of his own state or territory. 

The House of Representatives is a body of 
men representing the people of the country. 

The Senate is a body of men representing the 
states themselves, each as a separate political 
organization. Knowing this, you can understand 
why the states have equal representation in the 



The President 13 

Senate but varying numbers of representatives 
in the lower house. How many senators are 
there today in the United States Senate 1 How 
many states are there in the United States? 
How many representatives does your state send 
to the lower house of Congress? What is the 
i:)opulation of your state 1 

The city of Washington is, you sec, tne homo The city 
of the government of the people of the United 
States, just as each state capital is the home of 
the government of the people living in that state. 



of Wash 
ini^ton. 



The legislatures of the various states and Limitations 

of state 
legishiturcs. 



ment by the 
people. 



territories can make no laws which are in con- 
flict in any way with the laws which the national 
legislature has passed. 

You see, then, that our government is a gov- a govern 
ernment by the people, because each member 
of a state or territorial legislature, as well as 
each member of the national Congress at Wash- 
ington, is chosen by the people and sent by 
them to work for them and for the good of all. 

THE PKESIDENT 

The laws which Congress passes must be The diity 
enforced. l' '^.^, , 

President. 

The chief officer in the United States whose 
duty it is to see that these laws are enforced is 
the President. The President is to the United 
States as a w^hole what the governor of each 
state is to that state. 

The governor of a state is elected by the 



14 



Government 



The election direct vote of the people; that is, every voter in 
of the ^i^Q g^^^^ jg supposed to cast his ballot for the 

PrGSidGiit* 

man he thinks best qualified to fill the position. 




William McKinley. 



The person receiving the greatest number of 
votes becomes the governor. This is not the 
case in the election of a President. The law 
of the United States provides that the Presi- 
dent of the United States shall be chosen by 
men called electors, and that each state shall 



The President 15 

have as many electors as it has senators 
and representatives in the national Congress ; 
that is, each state has two electors and, in 
addition, as many as it has representatives 
in the lower house of Congress. These elec- 
tors are chosen at an election held by the 
people. The electors of each state, having How 
been selected by the people, meet for the pur- ©lectors are 
pose of casting a vote for a President. They 
vote for the person whom they desire to make 
President. 

When the votes have been counted, the person 
receiving the majority, that is, more than half 
of the electoral votes, is elected President. Your 
father, uncle or brother does not vote directly 
for the President, but he does vote for elec- 
tors, whose duty it is to vote for the President. 
Your father, uncle or brother would not vote for 
a person to be a presidential elector unless he 
thought that the elector would vote as he wanted 
him to. So you see that, although the people of 
the United States do not vote directly for the 
President, yet the man who is the choice of a 
majority of the people is most likely to become 
President. 

What is the name of the man who is now 
President? Can you remember when he was 
elected ? How long has he yet to serve 1 

The President holds office for four years. Therespon- 
As the duties of a President are very impor- if^^^^J 
tant, the people are careful to see that the man president. 



16 Government 

whom they elect to the presidency is a good 
man and one who is well fitted for the respon- 
sibility. The presidential election takes place 
once in four years, on the Tuesday following 
the first Monday in November. Before this the 
people discuss among themselves which of the 
candidates would make the best President should 
he be elected. Some people think one man 
would make the best President, others think 
another would be the most satisfactory, while 
still others may think a third would be better 
than either of the other two. So it is that some- 
times there are three or four candidates, each of 
whom has among the people many who think he 
would make the best President. The friends of 
each of these men are so anxious that he should 
be elected that they hold inany public meetings, 
where speeches are made in behalf of their can- 
didate. In many other ways, also, the friends 
of each of the candidates show their belief in his 
fitness for the high office of President. 

Entrance to Althougli tliis clcction takcs placc in Novem- 
ber, the new President does not enter on his 
duties as such until the fourth of March of the 
following year. One of the reasons for this 
arrangement is that the President-elect may 
have ample time to prepare himself for the 
change of his duties, and that he may without 
haste select those men who are to be his asso- 

. , ,, ciate assistants durinsr his term of office. 

And the o 

oath. Before a man who has been chosen to an 



Inauguration of a President 17 

office begins his work he promises the people 
that he will obey the laws and that he will do 
only what he thinks is right when in that 
office, and that he will try in every way to per- 
form his duty. This is the oath of office. 
When we hear of a man being sworn into office 
we know that he has taken such an oath. 



THE INAUGUEATION OF A PEESIDENT 

When the people of a state have chosen a inaugura- 
certain one of their number to be the governor *''''' ""^ ^ 

^ governor, 

of their state, it is necessary for this newly- 
elected officer to take the oath of office. The 
ceremony of swearing a governor into office is 
called an inauguration. Inasmuch as it is at 
the capital of the state that the governor does 
his work during his term of office, it is at the 
capital that he is inaugurated. This ceremony 
is frequently an event of much importance to 
the people of the state. The friends of the 
governor and others go from all parts of the 
state to the capital to be present at his inau- 
guration. The city is gaily decorated, strains 
of music are heard on all sides, regiments of 
soldiers are marching through the streets, and 
in other ways the governor is made to feel 
that, now that he has been chosen over the 
other candidates to be governor, he is to have 
the good will and help of all his fellow cit- 
izens during his term of office. Have you 



18 



Government 



Inaugura- 
tion of a 
^President. 



ever been present at the inauguration of a 
governor ? 

The President of the United States also 
must take the oath of office before he can enter 
upon his duties. As the city of Washington is 
the capital of the nation, the President does 
his work there, and makes that city his home 
while he is President. There he is inaugurated. 
The inauguration of a President, which takes 
place every four years (1897—1901—1905), is a 
great and important event to everyone in the 
United States. 

People in all parts of the nation want to 
show a newly -elected President that they be- 
lieve in him, and trust him, and that they will 
help him, so at his inauguration a great many 
of them go to "Washington to welcome him. 



Crowds at 
an inaugura- 
tion. 



WHEEE THEY COME FKOM 

In a large country like the United States, 
many of the states are so far away from the 
capital that but few of the people who live in 
them can leave their work or business for so 
long a time as it would take to go to Washing- 
ton and to get back to their homes again. 
From these far distant places, then, but few 
visitors go. Most of the strangers who are 
at the capital at inauguration time are from 
nearer cities and towns, because to go to 
Washington they need not be away from home 



Where the People Come From 19 

more than three or four days, or a week at 
the most. 

There are always many from Baltimore, the 
largest city in the state of Maryland, because 
it takes only an hour to go by rail from Balti- 
more to Washington. 

If we were to take one of the trains which, They come 
on leaving Washington, cross the Potomac ^oTdLlnT 
river, and were to travel on it for several from wash- 
hours, we should reach the city of Eichmond, ^^s**^^- 
the largest city in Virginia, just as Baltimore 
is the largest city in Maryland. You see from 
this that it is a comparatively easy matter for 
people living in Richmond and other places in 
Virginia to go to Washington. In this way it 
happens that at the inauguration of a President 
there are many visitors from Virginia as well 
as from Maryland. 

Baltimore is very nearly half-way between 
Washington and a city which is much larger 
than either Baltimore or Washington, and 
which is the largest city in the state of Penn- 
sylvania. Philadelphia was at one time the 
home of our government, for the President and 
Congress did their work there just as they now 
do in Washington. Many of the citizens of 
this large city, because it is so near Wash- 
ington, go at the time of an inauguration to 
help welcome the new President. 

Who can tell the name of the largest city in The largest 
the United States I The name of this city, ^^*^- 



20 



Government 



New York 
city. 



New York, is probably familiar to you all. It 
is now frequently referred to as Greater New 
York, because, within recent years, by act of 
the state legislature, several of the adjacent 
cities have been annexed to or incorporated 
with the original New York city. Because of 




District op Coluinibia and Vicinity. 

its situation on the Hudson Eiver, Long Island 
Sound and New York Bay, New York is one 
of the largest shipping centers of the world. 
New York city has been since its earliest 
days the great business center of our coun- 
try. It is sometimes called the metropolis 
of the United States. The name of this city, 



Where the People Come From 21 

about two hundred miles northeast of Wash- 
ington, is the same as the name of the state 
in which it is located. New York city was 
also at one time the home of our government, 
the first President being inaugurated there 
many years ago. A great many people go to 
Washington, both from New York city and 
from the whole of New York state, to see the 
President inaugurated. 

Who knows the name of another large city other cities 
in the North, which is about the same distance '^^ *^'f 

' North, 

from New York as New York is from Wash- 
ington! You have heard of Boston, have you 
not I Boston is the largest city in the state of 
Massachusetts, and, although it is four hundred 
and fifty miles from Washington, the people 
living there take great interest in the inau- 
guration of a new President. When this coun- 
try was very young, Boston was one of its most 
important cities. Many great events took place 
there which affected the growing nation. 

Were we to leave Washington by one of the ^^^ ^^ *^^ 
trains which cross the Potomac, and travel two 
hundred miles farther toward the south than 
Boston is from Washington toward the north, 
we should reach the city of Atlanta, the largest 
city in the state of Georgia. We should pass 
through the states of Virginia, North Carolina, 
and South Carolina, and should travel some 
distance in the state of Georgia. These states, 
as well as those where the cities about which 



22 Government 

you have read in the foregoing pages are located, 
and others near them, send many train loads of 
people to Washington at the time of the inau- 
guration. These people, you see, can go there 
without the loss of very much time from their 
work at home. 
The Atlantic Look at tlic map and place the point of your 
seaboard. pencil ou cacli of the cities of which you have 
read above. Notice through what states one 
would pass in going from Washington to each 
of these places. Trace with your pencil the 
mountains, which begin in the south, not far 
from Atlanta, and extend parallel to the ocean 
to a point nearly opposite Boston in the north. 
Do you see what a narrow strip of land, as com- 
pared to the entire breadth of this country, there 
is between the mountains and the ocean? 

How well the different states in this narrow 
strip are protected — on the east by the ocean 
and on the west by the mountains! Of course 
there are cities and towns and farms in all that 
broad land beyond the mountains even to that 
other distant ocean, and of course the people 
living in all the homes there help to choose the 
President of the United States, and are just as 
anxious as the people living between the moun- 
tains and the Atlantic Ocean that he should be 
inaugurated with great honor; but they live so 
far away that only a few can spare the time to 
go to Washington. Many of them, however, 
write letters or show in other ways their interest. 



Mount Vernon 23 



MOUNT VEKNON 



Those persons who go to Washington to par- Mount 
ticipate in an inauguration of a President have ^'^"'*'°- 
much to interest them in the capital city when 
the inauguration ceremonies are at an end. 
There are the great buildings where much of the 
work of the government is carried on, there are 
the many statues of patriots and heroes, and 
there are great numbers of attractive driveways, 
avenues and parks. These visitors wish also to TheWash- 
see the Washington monument, a great shaft of ^''^**^^ 

1 • 1 1 -Tk monument. 

marble 555 feet in height, built near the Poto- 
mac river, and overlooking the shores of the 
old Virginia state. It was erected in honor of 
the first President of the United States, George 
Washington, whose inauguration took place 
many years ago in New York city. 

Nearly every visitor who goes to Washington 
spends a part of one day at Mount Vernon, 
because that was the home of George Wash- 
ington. When you visit Washington, you must 
not fail to make the trip to Mount Vernon, for 
it is very beautiful, and you will find much to 
interest you there. 

Mount Vernon is in Virginia, not more than The home 
fifteen miles south of Washington, on the Poto- ^J^ ^^?'s^ 

^ ^ Washmgton 

mac. It was at Mount Vernon that George stiii pre- 
Washington, our first President, lived. It is served, 
there his body was buried. The beautiful house 
in which he spent so many years and which 




Grdrge "Washington. 



George Washington 25 

contains so many things he saw and used every 
day, is standing just as it was then. One can 
see the clothes he wore, his soldier uniform, his 
sword, the chairs in which he sat and the bed 
in which he slept. The houses where his ser- 
vants lived are clustered near the large man- 
sion. Here are the stables in which he kept his 
horses and his cows ; his pigsties and his chicken 
house, too, are still to be seen, and on all sides 
are the lawns, the flower beds and fields which 
he loved. 

GEOEGE WASHINGTON 

George Washington, who was born in Vir- why his 

• . T 1 1 J. 1 name is 

gmia, lived many, many years ago, but he was venerated. 

so good a man and did so many things to help 

his country that every one in the United States 

now likes to read about his life. Each year, on 

the anniversary of the day he was born, February 

22, 1732, over one hundred and fifty years ago, 

the schools in every part of the United States 

are closed, stores are shut, and nearly every one 

has a holiday. We rest from work. Stories of 

Washington are told, and poems about him are 

read in public halls, and people do what they 

can to show that they are glad that such a man 

as Washington once lived. 



PART II 

THE COLONIES 

A PREPARATORY HISTORICAL STUDY, lOGETHEB 
WITH A STUDY OF PLACE GEOGRAPHY 

The country Theee weFG iiot many people in this country 
days. at the time Washington was a boy, and nearly 

all the people who were here lived in the narrow 
strip between the Atlantic ocean and the moun- 
tains. There was then no President to be in- 
augurated, for there were no states. As the 
great, broad country west of the mountains was 
but little known, he who had been there was 
considered a great traveler. It was not safe to 
travel in these mountains because of the Indians 
who made their homes there ; nor was it safe 
in the forests for many miles east of the 
mountains. 

Before white men came here to live, this 
whole country was the home of the Indians. 
They fished in the streams, and hunted the 
deer and bear in the forests, and wandered from 
valley to valley as they pleased. There were 
then no white men to trouble them. But as the 
white settlers, who had come from far across 
the ocean, cut down the forests, built their 
homes, their churches and their schools, and 

(26) 



The 
Indians. 



A Historical Study 



27 



planted seeds in the ground, the Indians were 
driven away. Do not think, however, that they 
let the white men take their forests and valleys 
without fighting for them. There were many 
bloody battles, but as the white men were the 
stronger, the Indians after many years were 
driven out of the country near the Atlantic, so 
that settlers built towns and cultivated valleys 
without fear of their attacks. 

At that time there were no rail- 
roads. When Washington went to 
Baltimore he had to go on horse- 
back, or in a large stage or 
carriage drawn by horses. The 
roads were very poor, and as there 
were very few bridges across the 
streams, he had to spend several 
days in making the trip. A jour- 
ney to New York from his home 
at Mount Vernon was a very great 
undertaking, and one not often attempted. 

When the white settlers who came to the 
new country pushed farther into the forests 
and mountains to locate and build homes, 
they were much troubled by the Indians. 
Their homes were burned, their cattle stolen, and 
their wives and children murdered. But the 
white settlers were strong, and knew how to fight 
better than the Indians, and knew how to build 
forts, in which they were safe from the attacks 
of red men, so after many years they had 




Mohawk 
Indian 
Tomahawk 
AND Pipe. 



28 The Colonies 

The settlers established thirteen settlements in the narrow 
thirteen ^ strip between the ocean and the mountains. 
colonies. Eacli of tlieso settlements was really a little 

country by itself, for each differed in its customs 
All belonged and laws from the others. But they all belonged 
to Great ^ Great Britain, a m-eat nation far across the 

Britain, ' ® 

ocean. Each of these settlements was a colony 
of that nation. Can you tell where the British 
Isles are? 
Reasons for rjy^^Q l^^^-^j of niauy of tlicsc colouics rcachcd 
nelrthesea. ^^1' ^^^^^ ^^^^ mountaius, and the land of some of 
them far beyond. But those parts of the col- 
onies which were beyond the mountains were 
but little known. Few or no settlements 
were there. The people preferred to remain 
between the mountains and the ocean, where 
they would not be troubled by the Indians. As 
you know, there were no railroads at that time, 
nor had the telegraph been invented, so the 
people wished to be near the ocean, or near 
some large river up which ships could pass, so 
that they could communicate easily with their 
friends and relatives in Great Britain. Most of 
the trade of the colonists was with England, 
therefore it was necessary that they should make 
their homes where the ships of England could 
easily reach them. In these days, too, we trade a 
great deal with England, but now we have rail- 
roads running through all parts of the country, 
on which we can easily reach the ocean or one 
of our large rivers. Some of the colonies were 



A Historical Study 29 

very large, and included much of the country 
which has since been built up into several states. 
But when we read about the thirteen colonies 
we know that the thirteen settlements between 
the mountains and the ocean are meant. 

There was the colony of Virginia, in which The colony 
Washington lived at Mount Vernon, on the ^^ ^^^^si^J-'^- 
Potomac, and there was the colony of Mary- 
land, on the other side of that river. Maryland 
and Virginia were two very important colonies. 

Next to Virginia on the south was North The colonies 
Carolina, and just beyond that colony was South cLonnl^ 
Carolina. South of South Carolina and the South Caro- 
most southern of all the colonies was Georgia, l^"""' . 

^ Georgia. 

You see there were four colonies beyond the 
Potomac river to the south. First Virginia, 
then North Carolina and South Carolina, and 
the last one, farthest away, Georgia. 

When Washington went from his home in 
Virginia to New York city, he had to pass 
through four more colonies if he made the trip 
by land. Could he go from Mount Vernon to 
New York by water ? It was first necessary for 
him to cross the Potomac into the colony of 
Maryland. Although in those days there was Maryland, 
no District of Columbia or a capital city of 
Washington, yet there was a ferry where now a 
bridge joins the city of Washington to the 
Virginia shore. Having crossed the Potomac, 
Washington of course went first to Baltimore, 
in the colony of Maryland. Proceeding on his 



30 The Colonies 

Delaware, joumey, he then passed through a part of Dela- 

Pennsyi- ware, aiid then to PhiladeliDhia, in Pennsyl- 
vania, and at last, just before crossing the 

New York. Hudson river into New York, he passed through 

New Jersey, the colouy of New Jersey. 

This makes nine colonies you know about. 
Can any one tell me the names of these nine 
colonies? Georgia, South Carolina, North Car- 
olina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Jersey, New York. 

''But we know of another!" Oh, do you? 

Massachu- "Ycs, Massachusctts ; for Boston, which was 
such an important city, is in Massachusetts." 
Very true. Then you know about ten colonies 
instead of only nine. 

Connecticut. Thcrc wcrc thrcc more colonies, and, although 
two of these were very small, the people who 
lived there were brave and helped very much to 
make our country great and strong. These two 
colonies, located side by side just south of the 
older colony of Massachusetts, as if for protec- 
tion, were called Connecticut and Ehode Island. 

Rhode Ehode Island was the smallest of all the col- 

isiand. onies, so people called her Little Rhody. This 

was merely a pet name, because she was so 
small and yet so brave. 

New There is one more colony to be named, 

Hampshire, ^hich is Ncw Hampshire, just beyond Massa- 
chusetts, the most northern of all the colonies, 
as Georgia was the colony farthest south.* 

* Settlements which had early been made on the coast of what is now the 
state of J*Jaine, which extends to the north of Xew Hampshire, were under 



A Historical Study 31 

Can you name the thirteen colonies now, 
beginning with New Hampshire on the north 
and continuing in order until you reach Georgia 
in the south, beyond George Washington's 
home, in Virginia? 

New Hampshire, the one in the far north ; 
Massachusetts, with its Boston ; little Rhode 
Island; Connecticut; New York, with the large 
city of the same name ; New Jersey ; Pennsyl- 
vania, with Philadelphia as its largest city ; 
Delaware; then Maryland, of which Baltimore is 
the largest city; and, across the river, Virginia, 
where Washington lived; and still farther south. 
North Carolina; South Carolina; and at last 
Georgia. These thirteen colonies, taken together, ^he size of 
made quite a big country, did they not ! 

Draw an outline map of the thirteen colonies, 
and mark thereon all the cities and rivers of 
which you have read. 

TROUBLE IN THE COLONIES 

When George Washington was a boy there 
was no President, as you have already been told. 
Virginia and Maryland and all the other colo- was the king 
nies belonged to the mother country, the very old °^ .^^f ^* 
and very strong nation across the ocean. Great 
Britain. The ruler of the xieople of Great Brit- 
ain was a king who was not chosen by them, 

the jurisdiction of Massaeliusetts, but tliese settlements were of such small 
importance, in comparison to the other parts of the colony of Massachusetts, 
that we shall not consider them. Therefore we shall call New Hampshire the 
most northern colony. 



32 



The Colonies 



In some 

colonies 

through 

royal 

governors. 



In others 

through 

proprietors. 



Other colo- 
nies were in- 
dependent. 



Who made 
the laws. 



but was king because his father had been king 
before him. If he did not do as the people 
wanted him to do, the laws did not permit them 
to choose some one else to be king. Since 
the colonies belonged to Great Britain, the king 
who ruled Great Britain ruled the colonies also. 
The colonies were so far from the king's home, 
however, that he could not well visit them him- 
self, so he sent to many of the colonies men 
whose duty it was to see that the colony to 
which each was sent obeyed the king. These 
men were called royal governors. 

The chief man in each of some of the colonies 
was one who had the power of ruling that 
colony because of his birth, just as the king 
in England ruled that country. This little 
colony king, or proprietor, as he was called, 
was, however, also a subject of the king of 
England, because the land which he ruled had 
been given him, or his father or grandfather, 
many years before, by the ruler of Great Brit- 
ain. Others of the colonies were allowed to rule 
themselves. But if they acted in any way which 
was unsatisfactory to the ruler of Great Britain, 
he could make things so disagreeable for them 
that they were hardly any better off than those 
colonies to which the king sent governors, or 
those which were ruled by proprietors. 

Great Britain made some of the laws which 
governed the colonies. Each colony could make 
some laws itself, but if these laws did not suit 



Trouble in the Colonies 33 

the king the colony had to meike other laws 
which did suit him, or there was sure to be great 
trouble, so you see the people in the thirteen 
colonies were governed as the king desired in 
many important matters. 

When the colonies were first established this Growth of 
was proper and just; but as the settlements 
grew older and stronger, the colonists felt that 
they ought to have more to say about how they 
should be governed, and should not be so 
restricted by the mother country as they were 
when the colonies were small and weak and 
needed some one to guide them. They were 
now doing men's work, raising wheat, oats and 
corn, cotton, rice and tobacco; and were mak- 
ing clothes, shoes and many other things for 
their own use. They were building cities, mak- 
ing roads and cultivating farms. 

Great Britain, however, would allow her col- Tteyhadno 

... . x^T , 1.,. representa- 

onies no representation m Parliament, which is tion in 
the English Congress, and she i^ersisted in Parliament, 
taxing the colonists without consulting them. 
The people of the colonies protested that this 
was not fair. They said to England : "We are 
willing to help support you and to take your 
advice in many things; but we should be 
allowed to have more to say about the laws 
by which we are governed, and we should be 
consulted about the amount of taxes we are to 
pay, and the manner in which the money thus 
raised is to be expended." ^ 



34 The Colonies 

THE EEVOLUTION 

When While the mother country and her colonies 

waTabojC^ werc quarreling, George Washington was born. 
When he was a boy, he and his schoolmates 
frequently played soldier. They would march 
to and fro, and sometimes would have battles 
among themselves. Washington was always a 
leader of the boys, because he was strong and 
knew how to march better than the others. 
His side was pretty sure to win when they had 
their sham battles. 

Afterwards, wdien he was older and had left 
school, he became a surveyor ; that is, he 
measured the land and marked it off into 
sections of different sizes, marked out roads, 
and located towns, hills, rivers and roads on 
maps for the use of his neighbors and all the 
people in that part of the country in which he 
And a young Jived. Wlicu Wasliingtou was older he became 
a soldier, and went into the forest and moun- 
tains to help fight the Indians and the French, 
proving himself to be a very brave soldier. 
When he returned to his home his neighbors 
and friends were proud of him. 
His early Washiugtou had been a great reader and 

nels!"""^ student when at school. Even when a surveyor 
and a soldier he had been able to spend much 
time with his books, so that when he settled 
down at home, he became a leader of the men 
in his section of the country. So wisely and 



The Revolution 35 

bravely did he talk at their meetings that his 
name soon became known throughout Virginia 
and in Maryland; and even as far as Phila- 
delphia, New York and Boston men spoke of 
George Washington as a great and wise man. 

When at last, after much pleading and beg- ^he cok.iues 
ging. Great Britain still refused to give the mother 
colonies the rights which they should have had, country for 
the men of this country said, "Great Britain ■'^^ ^^^' 
will not give us what is ours by right ; we must 
fight for our rights." Although there were not 
many people in this country then, most of them 
were very brave and were willing, if necessary, 
to fight for what they knew was right, even 
with such an old and strong nation as Great 
Britain. Each colony knew it could do noth- 
ing alone against the armies which the king 
would send across the ocean, so the leading 
men of all the colonies met and decided that 
the thirteen colonies should unite and together 
fight the king's soldiers. These men asked 
each colony to send as many soldiers as possi- 
ble to join the men of all the other colonies to 
form one army, and they called on George 
Washington to be the leader of that army. 

George Washington loved Mount Vernon, he And named 
loved the great house and the fields surround- ^^il^'efder 
ing it, and he loved the work he was doing 
there. His life was peaceful and full of glad- 
ness. The broad Potomac, silently flowing 
past his meadows, was dear to him. He loved 



36 The Colonies 

his neighbors, he loved his Virginia, and he 
loved that nation far across the ocean which 
his fathers had called home. But more than 
all he loved his country, the thirteen brave 
little colonies who asked for nothing but that 
which they knew was right. When therefore 
these colonies needed him and called him to 
be their leader, he thought no more of home, 
but went to help his countrymen win with gun 
and sword the rights which prayers and jDlead- 
ings did not bring. 

So thought and acted the other patriotic 
men of Virginia, of Maryland and of each and 
all of the thirteen colonies. 
Great Wlicu Great Britain saw that her colonies 

Britain was ' i n i i ^ j_ i • 

rich. were gonig to fight she sent over many ship- 

loads of soldiers and cannons and horses. 
Great Britain was very rich. Her soldiers had 
plenty of warm clothing to wear and all the 
food they needed, and when the soldiers she 
at first sent over were killed, she could send 
over as many more. She also hired soldiers 
of other countries to cross the ocean to fight 
against her colonies. 

The colonies rpj^^ colouics wcrc uot SO rich. They could 
not always give their soldiers clothing enough 
to keep tnem warm during the long, cold win- 
ters, and often the men did not have enough 
to eat to keep them from hunger. 

The soldiers of Great Britain had tents in 
which to sleep at night and in which to cook 



were poor. 



The Revolution 37 

their meals. Our soldiers did not always have 
tents, but often had to sleep on the ground with- 
out any protection from the rains and winds » 

The soldiers who came here from across the 
ocean had new guns, with plenty of powder 
and bullets to use in those guns, and Great 
Britain was sending more guns and more pow- 
der when they were needed. She had money 
with which to buy these things. But our sol- 
diers did not have new guns. They used the with little 
guns they had used in fighting the Indians ammunition 
and in hunting in the forests, and it was hard arms!^^ 
work for the colonies to buy new guns for them 
and to keep the soldiers supplied wdth powder 
and bullets. But each man was brave and 
knew that he was fighting for freedom, for his 
wife and children and himself, and he loved his f"^^ f!^I 

' fought for 

country and did not want it unjustly treated by a freedom. 
king far across the ocean, who did not care for 
the colonies except to make money out of them. 

You see, each soldier was fighting for his 
country, for his home and for himself. So 
when Washington came to take charge of the lit- 
tle army of the colonies, although he found the 
soldiers poorly clad and hungry perhaps, and 
with only enough powder to last them a short 
time, yet he found them brave and determined, 
for they knew they were doing what was right. 

The soldiers of Great Britain were fighting 
because they were told to fight by their king. 
They were paid to fight. They were very 



38 The Colonies 

brave, as brave as any soldiers in the world. 
They were warm and well fed, and had a 
great, strong nation to urge them on and to sup- 
port them. You see, the men of the thirteen 
They fought colouies were fighting against great odds. They 
against were fierhting against greater numbers, and 

great odds. . „ . -, -, ^ . ,, i , -. 

against well-tramed soldiers as well, who had 
everything that was necessary for carrying on a 
war. But the soldiers of the thirteen colonies 
were in the right, whereas the soldiers of the 
great nation across the ocean were in the wrong. 
When a man is right and knows that he is 
right, and is fighting for his home and for his 
liberty, he can fight harder and longer than 
a man can who is wrong and is fighting just 
because he has been told or hired to fight. 

George Washington and the other great men 
of the little country had to work hard to get 
clothes and food and powder for their brave 
soldiers. They suffered so much themselves 
from cold and hunger, and the army was so 
small and unprepared to fight, that the king of 
England thought he would soon conquer and 
that then the colonists would do just as he 
wanted them to do without complaining. But 
he was very much mistaken. 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

When the colonists had decided that they 
would unite, and with their united strength 



The Declaration of Independence 39 

wage war on Great Britain to obtain the right 
to have more to say about their government, it i* was not 
was not in their minds to separate themselves their minds 
from the mother country and to form an inde- ^ form an 
pendent nation. Most of the colonists had been n^JtiTn'' ^'^' 
born in Great Britain, or their forefathers had 
come from that country, so they still called 
Great Britain their home and loved it as such. 
When, liowever, the colonists found that Great 
Britain had no intention of giving them their 
rights they came to the conclusion that to suc- 
ceed they must establish themselves as a na- 
tion. They needed money with which to carry 
on the war. To raise the money laws were 
necessary. It was also thought that some form 
of government should be established to bind 
the colonies together. The thirteen different 
colonies, therefore, sent representative men to Representa- 
Philadelphia, who were to do what they could *'^'''' ""'^^ "' 

-^ ' Philadel- 

to raise money for the army, and to pass such phia, 
laws as were necessary to the proper conduct 
of affairs in the country. These men soon 
decided that the colonies were able to govern 
themselves, and that the welfare and happi- 
ness of the colonists depended on their being And issued 
independent of all other nations. They then tueDeciara- 
issued the Declaration of Independence. pendence. 

This Declaration was addressed to all the 
nations of the world, but more especially to 
Great Britain. It set forth that the colonies now 
considered themselves free and independent 



40 The Colonies 

states, that they belonged to Great Britain no 
longer, but intended to govern themselves. It 
stated that while there were still to be thirteen 
colonies or states, yet these thirteen states were 
now to be united into one nation, to be known as 
the United States. It said that they were pre- 
pared to defend themselves against Great 
Britain or any other country that attempted to 
meddle with their affairs. 
Birth of the The thirteen colonies of Great Britain were no 
stlte^sof more. The United States of America had taken 

America. tliclr plaCC. 

The Declaration of Independence explained 
why the colonists took this step, and showed 
the reasons why they thought they had the 
right to be free. 
The Fourth Tliis Declaration was issued on the Fourth of 
July, 1776. That date marks the beginning 
of the United States as a nation, although it was 
some time before Great Britain recognized the 
United States as an independent government. 

You can now understand why w^e make so 
much of the Fourth of July each year. We are 
showing honor to the men of the thirteen col- 
onies who established our United States, and we 
are showing joy at still governing ourselves as 
a free and independent nation. 

THE STAES AND STRIPES 

When the colonists were governed by Great 
Britain the flag which they had was the same as 



of July 
177G. 



The Stars and Stripes 41 

the flag of the mother country. But when they^ 
decided to make war on tlie mother country, and 
announced themselves a free and independent 
nation, a new flag, a United States flag, was TheUnited 
necessary. There were many suggestions as to ^^^^^^ ^^s- 
what this new flag should be, but finally it was 




The Flag prescribed by "Striped Union," adopted by Colonies 

Congress in 1777. after their itnion, but prior to 

1777— The Flag of 1775. 

determined that the United States flag should 
consist of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, 
one stripe and one star for each of the thirteen 
states. This was the flag which was then used 
by Washington's army. 

It was decided that as the United States 
became larger, and new settlements were formed 
and were admitted into the Union as states, a 
star should be added to the flag for each state 
thus admitted. It was at flrst intended to add 
a stripe also to the flag for each new state that 



42 The Colonies 

* was admitted. But this plan was afterwards 
changed when it was determined that there 
should always be thirteen stripes to represent 
the thirteen original states and as many stars in 
the flag as there are states in the Union. 

PEACE 

War for For seveu long years Great Britain sent ship- 

seven years, j^^^^ after ship-load of well-traiued soldiers to 
this country, and for seven long years the little 
army of the colonies fought against them and 
could not be beaten. Great Britain did not 
want to lose her colonies, because they were 
worth so much to her, but she could not 
conquer the soldiers who, with Washington, 
were fighting for liberty, even though she killed 
many of their comrades and caused them much 
suffering. So at last she gave up and acknowl- 
edged the colonies to be independent, and 
recognized the United States as an independent 
nation. She took away her soldiers, and the 
thirteen colonies were now free, and could 
govern themselves. 

George Washington and his army of men 
from all the colonies had suffered much, but 
they had conquered, and their little country no 
longer belonged to Great Britain. 

TKOUBLE 

At first, of course, the states were very young 
and inexperienced. The long war had cost 



Trouble 43 

them a large amount of money as well as a 
great many men. The soldiers of Great Britain 
had killed many of the little army before it had 
won the victory. The country was poor, and 
owed great sums of money. As it had never 
governed itself, and had never been governed 
as an entire nation even by Great Britain, the 
people of this country found that there was 
much for them to do before affairs could be 
straightened out. But every patriot was happy After the 
at the result of the war, and was anxious to do ^'''■* 
all he could to make strong and safe the young 
nation in which he was to live and bring up his 
children. 

Now that the nation was to make all of its 
own laws, there was a great difference of opin- 
ion respecting what laws should be made. 
Some men thought the country should be gov- 
erned in one way, while others thought it 
should be governed in another. Each state 
of the young nation wanted such laws passed 
as would do that state the most good. This 
was perfectly natural. 

A CONSTITUTION 

These were trying times. The nation was 
often on the point of falling to pieces and 
losing all the benefits for which it had fought 
so long and so nobly. But at last some of 
the wisest and best of the men, from all the ^®° ^^^ 

. T-ki T T • ^^ Philadel- 

colonies except Ehode Island, met m the city phia. 



44 



The Colonies 



And formed 
the Consti- 
tution. 



Which 
the states 
ratified. 



What was 
the Consti- 
tution? 



The unity it 
inculcated. 



of Philadelphia to decide how the young nation 
should be governed. 

For four months these men talked and sug- 
gested plans until at last, on September 17, 
1787, they decided on a Constitution which was 
submitted to the different states. This Consti- 
tution was to go into effect among such states 
as should agree to it as soon as nine of the 
thirteen states had ratified it — that is, agreed 
to it. It was nearly a year before the necessary 
number of states did ratify the Constitution. 
At last, however, all of them did so. North 
Carolina and Ehode Island were the last to 
follow the example of Delaware, which was 
the first state to agree to this great general law. 

This Constitution was a declaration of the 
principles under which the government of the 
United States was established and by which it 
was to be carried on. So wisely were the 
different provisions made that the United States 
today, after more than a hundred years, is gov- 
erned by this same Constitution, with but few 
changes or additions. 

According to the Constitution, the states were 
to be governed by the same general laws, and 
were to be bound together into one great nation. 
Thus each man could love his own state a great 
deal, but he should love the union of states as 
a nation more, because it was the union of the 
thirteen colonies, each one with the help of the 
other twelve, that had made freedom possible. 



The First President 45 

THE FIRST PRESIDENT 

The Constitution provided that the chief ex- 
ecutive in the country should be a President, 
whose term of office should be four years. 

At the first election George Washington was Washington 
chosen President, because he was known to be p^esMent 
a very brave and good man, and one who loved 
his country so much that he would do as much 
for Massachusetts or North Carolina or any 
other state as he would for his own Virginia. 
It was decided that New York city should be 
the home of the government for a time at least. 
It was there, on April 30, 1789, that Wash- AncUnaugu- 

rated. 

ington was inaugurated as President of the 
United States. 

What a different inauguration that must have 
been from the one which took place in the city 
of Washington when our present President took 
the oath of office! 

During the trying times following the close of 
the war Washington had been foremost among 
the people of the little nation. He had incited 
them to patriotism and tried by his example to 
cause them to sacrifice their own small desires 
for the good of all. He had labored with his 
great wisdom and with his untiring love for the 
United States to perpetuate the Union, and had 
done so without thought or desire for personal 
gain or honor. His only wish was to see the 
government so strong and steadfast that cen- 
turies would still see it safe and pure. He had 



46 The Colonies 

hoped to spend the remainmg years of his life 
quietly among his flowers and animals and in 
the society of his friends, but the nation willed 
otherwise. He had not sought the presidency, 
preferring to remain a private citizen, yet when 
his country called him, he laid aside all personal 
and private considerations to accept the great 
responsibility the people imposed on him. 
How he Washington was at Mount Vernon when he 

r«nlnra^'' was luformcd of his election. He had to make 
tion. the trip to New York over very rough roads and 

through long stretches of uncultivated country, 
and in some places through dark forests. He 
had to ford many streams, or be taken across 
on unsafe ferry boats. His nights were spent 
at little roadside hotels or at farm-houses; and 
at such places his meals were eaten. When he 
reached such cities as Baltimore and Phila- 
delphia the people welcomed him by ringing 
bells, firing cannon, and by cheering him as he 
rode into their midst. At some places his path- 
way was strewn with flowers by little girls, while 
the houses in all the towns through which he 
passed were decorated with flowers and with 
wreaths and flags. 

Washington passed through much of the 
same country in which he and his soldiers 
had fought during the seven years of the war. 
Wlien he saw how peaceful and happy the 
people were, it is said he was overcome with 
emotion and was moved to tears. 



The First Inauguration 47 

THE rmST INAUGUKATION 

On his arrival at New York he was met by in New 
leading citizens of the country, who had assem- 
bled there to welcome him, and he was escorted 
to his resting place greeted by cheering of the 
people, ringing of the bells of the churches and 
firing of the same cannon that had been used 
in battles of the Revolution. 

The inauguration was to have taken place on 
the 4th of March, but, owing to delay, Wash- 
ington was not sworn into office until the 30th 
of April. At nine o'clock on the morning of 
Inauguration Day, services were held in all the 
churches, and prayers were offered for the 
safety of the new government and the man who 
was to be at its head. At noon soldiers and 
bodies of citizens came to Washington's door 
and escorted him to the hall where he was to 
take the oath of office. 

Washington was dressed in a suit of dark 
brown clothes made in America, with trousers 
reaching only to the knee, as was the custom 
at that time. He wore white silk stockings and 
on his shoes silver buckles. At his waist was 
fastened his sword. His hair was powdered 
and worn in a bag, according to the fashion of 
the day. 

Stepping out on a balcony in front of the His oath of 
hall, Washington promised the people of this ^^"^^^ 
country that he would faithfully do all he could 



48 



The Colonies 



And his 
address. 



to make the young nation great ana strong. 
He then kissed the Bible which was handed 
to him, and entered the building, where he 
addressed the people who had assembled there. 




Washington Taking the Oath of Office. 



When this ceremony was over, Washington, 
accompanied by many of the greatest men of 
the nation, went to a church called St. Paul's, 
where services were held in behalf of the new 



District of Columbia 49 

government of the United States. The bells of 
the city rang forth, the people cheered the 
President, and the inauguration was over. In 
the evening there were fireworks, and the city 
was illuminated. Thus was the first inaugura- 
tion of a President of the United States. 

New York was then but a small city, not 
more than one -eighth as large as Washington 
is now. But we can well believe that even 
though there was no great procession, and 
though there were no large bands of music or 
stands filled with thousands of people, or great 
buildings decorated with flags and bunting, 
yet the people made Washington know that he 
was welcome. He was made to feel that he could 
trust the people to help him in his work of making 
the young nation so great and strong and safe 
that it need fear no other nation in the world. 

The men whom Washington selected to be His wise 
near him and to help him with the great ques- 
tions which were to be settled were wise and 
loved their country. With their help he acted 
so wisely and so well that soon people began to 
feel that the country was safe, and that the 
freedom for which the colonists had fought 
would endure. 

THE DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA AND THE CAPITAL 

The 

The seat of government was soon moved to government 
Philadelphia, where the President and Congress "'''.7'! !"" 

^ ' '^ Philadel- 

went to carry on their work. Every one was phia. 



50 The Colonies 

anxious that a permanent home for the govern- 
ment should be selected. This was not an easy 
matter to settle, for each section of the country 
was anxious for the honor of having the men 
whom the nation chooses to make its laws 
assemble there. 

The site for j^^ ]^g^^ howcvcr, it was decided to build a 

chosen^' "" city ou tlic Potomac Eiver, a few miles from 
Washington's home, and to make that city the 
home of the government. The men whose duty 
it was to decide this were anxious to please 
every one and disappoint no one. They were 
wise enough to see that a place which was not 
in the South, North, West, or East, but was 
near the center of the thirteen states, would be 
most likely to please everyone. It was known 
also that George W^ashington wanted the home 
of the government to be near his own home, 
his beloved Mount Vernon. 

Gifts for its The states of Maryland and Virginia together 
gave to the government a square tract of land, 
amounting in all to 100 square miles, in which 
the city was to be built. This land, through 
which the Potomac Eiver wound its way, was 
called the District of Columbia. These two 
states also gave large sums of money with 
which to begin the building of the city which 
was to be the capital of the nation. 

From all Whcu it was scttlcd whcrc the home of the 

government was to be established, all the states 
contributed toward the building of the city, 



building. 



the states. 



More States 51 

because they knew that the city was to belong 
to them, to each of the states of the Union, and 
they wished it to be a beautiful place. 

MOKE STATES 

As our nation has grown older new country cjrowth iu 
has been acquired and new settlements of peo- stat'es^*^ ^ 
pie have been formed. When these settlements 
became large and strong and successful, they 
were admitted as states to the Union. We now 
have forty -five states, and our flag has forty- 
five stars in it, instead of only the thirteen it 
had at first. 

Each part of the United States has helped to 
make the capital city what it is, so that Wash- 
ington and the District of Columbia belong to 
no one state nor to any two states, but to every 
state and all the states. Washington is the 
National City, and belongs to all the people of 
the nation. 

But the District of Columbia is not ten miles The 

« ., ^ P national 

square now, tor quite a number of years ago ^.j^y, 
(1846), that part of the District on the Virginia 
side of the river was given back to that state. 
The District of Columbia is now made up of the 
land that was at one time in the state of Mary- 
land and the Potomac River, which washes its 
shores. 

In the beginning the city which was built was 
called the Federal City, but this was soon 



,52 



The Colonies 



changed to Washington, in honor of George 
Washington. The city of Washington was first 
occupied as the capital of the nation in the 
year 1800. 



Washington 
re-elected. 



His death. 



WASHINGTON ELECTED AGAIN 

During the four years in which Washington 
had been President he had done so well that he 
was chosen again to the same office. At the end 
of the eight years the people wanted to choose 
him once more, but he had been serving them 
so long as soldier, statesman and President, 
that he was weary of public life. He wanted 
to go to his home on the Potomac, his Mount 
Vernon, to spend the last years of his life there 
quietly with his friends, unburdened with the 
cares of state. 

So he returned to his beautiful fields and 
gardens, which he had left so many years before. 
There he died, December 14, 1799, loved by all 
the nation and mourned by all the people as a 
father. 

Mount Vernon is kept much as it was in those 
days. When you go there think of what it 
means to you and to us all, that such a man as 
Washington and men like him lived in the thir- 
teen little colonies, and were brave enough and 
honest enough to fight and suffer that we might 
live in peace and happiness. 



PART III 

THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
1. THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 

Let us see what this country was that Wash- 
ington and his fellow patriots were fighting for, 
and let us see how the thirteen colonies came 
to be. 

There are many different governments in the 
world, and there are many different nations of 
people, who differ in the color of their skins, 
the languages they speak, the laws by which 
they are governed ; who differ in their manners 
and their modes of living. 

There are the Italians, who live in Italy; the 
Spaniards, who live in Spain; the Germans, 
who live in Germany; the French, who live in 
France ; the English, who live in England, of races 
and others. Each one of these countries is a ^"^! *^°^'^ 

and laws. 

nation having a government of its own. The 
language and laws of each differ from the 
languages and laws of all the rest. 

But our language is the English language, 
too ! Yes, although we have a separate govern- 
ment, and laws different from the English laws, 
yet wie speak the same tongue. This is because 
most of the colonists, from whom so many of us 

(53) 



The 
distribution 



about 
America 



54 The United States 

are descended, were of English birth. As you 
have been told, they were Englishmen, and were 
governed by English laws until they separated 
themselves from the mother country and made 
a nation, the United States, for themselves. 
From them we inherit the English speech. 
Old myths ^11 tli^ nations mentioned above are very 
old. Many, many years ago — before George 
Washington was born, before white men came 
here — people did not know that such a great 
continent as the one on which we live existed. 
Stories were told among them of a beautiful 
land far to the west, but they had little faith in 
these, and were inclined to believe that the 
land ended with their own continent, and that 
probably all the rest of the world was water. 
They knew not where the water ended. For a 
long time they were too busy about their own 
countries to find out. Then, too, they thought 
the distant oceans were filled with terrible mon- 
sters, which would destroy their ships and sail- 
ors should they venture too far from the land. 
But just as you, each year and each month and 
each day, learn something which you did not 
know before, so the people living then were 
learning new and wonderful things as time 
went on. They saw the sun set in the west 
each night and rise again the next morning in 
the east. They thought the sun moved round 
the earth. When, however, they began to think 
more about it they realized that the earth must 



Christopher Columbus 55 

end somewhere or the sun could not get from 
the west at night to rise again in the east in the 
morning. 

At last some very wise men began to say that 
the earth was round. Few people believed 
what these wise men said. They were thought 
to be crazy. You know this is apt to be 
the case with us even now; when some one, 
much wiser than ourselves, discovers some new 
and heretofore unthought-of fact which we can- 
not think true, we shield our ignorance by call- 
ing him crazy until he proves beyond a doubt 
that he is right. Then we say, "Oh! of course; 
that is plain enough." But there was one man, 
a poor sailor, who believed what the wise men Coiumbus 
said. He thought, too, of a very good way to ^he g^rth to 
prove it. He said, "If the earth is round, why be round, 
can I not sail in a ship straight into the west, 
and by sailing continually west finally reach the 
east shore of our own land ! " The name of this 
poor sailor with such noble ambitions was 
Christopher Columbus, a man whom now the 
whole world honors. 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

Look at the map of Asia to find there the why people 
location of India, Constantinople, Damascus 
and Calcutta. At the time of Columbus, from 
these places were brought to the more civilized 
portions of the world rich spices, gorgeous 
cloths, sparkling jewels and gold. The trade 



wished to 
reach India. 



56 



The United States 



Fabled 
riches. 



with "the East," as these distant places were 
collectively called, was a most profitable one. 
People at that time had very extravagant 
ideas of "the East." Gold and jewels were 




Christopher Columbus. 

thought by some to be almost as plentiful as 
air. Great caravans traveled from the east, 
bringing the riches toward the shores of Eu- 
rope. Gradually, however, one by one, the 
routes to and from the east became impassable 



Christopher Columbus 57 

on account of the ferocious Turks, and it be- 
came necessary for the traders and merchants 
to find some new way of reaching these mar- 
kets. Columbus hoped to sail into the west 
and thus reach the east by water. 

Columbus was born in Italy, in the year 1436, Coiumbus 
in the little town of Genoa, on the Mediter- tiiVseaf 
ranean Sea. What language did he speak 
as his native speech ? As Genoa is on the 
seacoast, Columbus had from early childhood 
seen many ships and had talked with many 
sailors who had taken long and dangerous 
voyages. Stories of their adventures always 
interested the boy. He longed for the time 
when he, too, might sail the waters in a great 
ship and see strange and wondrous sights. 

The father of Columbus was a poor man, so And studied 
his son was put at work as soon as his little ganor.^ 
hands were large enough and his little muscles 
strong enough. When the boy was at his work 
his eyes often turned toward the blue sea, and 
his mind often dwelt on the stories of his sailor 
friends. He gave his spare moments to the 
study of geography. He learned all he could of 
his own and distant lands. He studied the 
stars and he learned the use of sailors' instru- 
ments. He made many little trips on the 
ships of his sailor friends, where he learned 
the names of the ropes and how to pull them, 
and the names of the different parts of the 
ship. He learned to draw maps, on which 



obtained 
ships 



58 The United States 

he would mark the places he had visited. As 
he grew older and took his first long voyage 
in a ship, he was well able to do his share of 
the work. At last he became so skilful in the 
art of sailing that he was made captain of a 
ship, and soon became known as a great navi- 
gator. 
He finally Coluuibus uow wishcd to provc that what the 

wise men said about the earth being round was 
true. But he was poor, and as hardly anyone 
would listen to his talk about the possibility of 
being able to reach the east by sailing west, 
he could not get money with which to buy 
ships and to pay sailors to sail them. People 
thought him crazy. But he felt so sure that he 
was right that he would not give up, so at 
last, after many weary years, he was provided 
with three ships by the King and Queen of 
Spain — Ferdinand and Isabella — who believed 
in what he said. 

THE NEW WOELD 

He sailed in Coluuibus Started on his voyage in August, 
August, 2.492. He sailed for many weeks far into that 

1492. 

ocean which was believed to reach to the end 
of the earth and to be tilled with horrible 
monsters. Often his sailors wished to turn 
back to Spain. They threatened to kill him if 
he did not return; but he was brave and hope- 
ful, and cheered them, and promised them 
that they should soon see land. And at 



The New World 59 



intervals now the sea and the air around and 
about the ships began to bring tokens to the 
sailors which indicated even to the most fright- Caimed his 
ened and incredulous ones their close proximity saUors^''^^ 
to some land. Birds, which were known to be 
land birds, lighted on the masts of the ships 




Iiarvro ^ 
A7orcs 



O CEAN 




•v A F R t C A A 






1 



from time to time. A branch having berries 
on it was observed floating on the water by 
the sailors of one of the little boats. A piece 
of wood which plainly showed that it had 
been cut by human hands was seen by others 
of the sailors. 

All were now more watchful than ever. 
During the evening of October 11 Columbus 
saw a bright light in the distance, and at 



60 



The United States 



the 
Bahamas. 



last, on the morning of October 12, land was 
sighted. 
And reached Columbus thouglit he had reached Asia, on 
the eastern shore of his own continent. But 
where were the wonderful cities, the gorgeous 
gowns, and the jewels and gold! The land be- 
fore him was one of the group now called the 
Bahama Islands. 

When Columbus returned to Spain he was 
greatly praised and honored for having dis- 
covered, by sailing west, a new and shorter 
route to Asia. Although he made several 
other voyages across the Atlantic, he died 
without knowing that he had discovered a 
new continent. 

On the return of Columbus to Spain after his 
first voyage, other nations, excited by his won- 
derful tales of the voyage across the unknown 
ocean, and of the strange land which he had 
seen, fitted out expeditions for discovery. 



other exp 
ditions. 



JOHN CABOT 

TheCabots. Qreat Britain employed an Italian, John 
Cabot by name, to cross the Atlantic in one 
of her ships. Cabot was the first man to reach 
the coast of North America, but, like all other 
people at that time, he thought our continent a 
part of Asia. He made another trip across the 
ocean, and his son, who had probably been 
with him on his first voyage, also came to 
America on voyages of discovery. 



America 61 



AMERICA 



The southern part of our continent was the 
first to be explored to any extent. 

One of the discoverers who proved that South ^'^^^'*^^]^s 

■^ Vespucms. 

America was not a part of Asia was Americus 
Vespucius. Yespucius wrote a great deal about 
the voyages of Columbus and other early dis- 
coverers, and published interesting accounts of 
his own many voyages. In 1507, one year after 
the death of Columbus, a German professor, in 
writing about this new land, suggested that it be 
called America in honor of Americus Yespu- 
cius. The suggestion was readily accepted, Jf^l^edcl^ 
because everyone supposed that Columbus, as 
he himself had thought, had merely discovered 
a new and shorter course between Europe and 
Asia. It was not known that he had discovered 
a new continent, but it was known that South 
America was a separate continent, so South 
America was called America. 

Later, when it became known that North 
America was not Asia, but, together with South 
America, formed a separate continent, the name 
America was applied to the entire continent, the 
southern portion being called South America 
and the northern portion North America 

The first permanent settlements in America The first 
were made by the Spaniards. These were all ^®**^^^^.^* 

. . m America. 

south of the territory now making up the United 
States except in the case of Florida, which was 



oeeaj^ed by ibe Spsuaiai>i$ and h^id by them for 
nany years^. 

The Ei^li^]i took no spoeial intepeist in the 
y. V Worid for many years after the Toyaire^s of 
Cumbx^ and the Cabots. Bat when they did 
b^esin to s>ei3d ^hips ^i^ settiei^ and adven- 
tiTpeis they elaimed Xonh Ameiiea, beeac^e of 
the diseoveiies made by Jc^ CaJxit. 

TTe know oar ei>imtiy consisted at one time 
ci thirteen edkimies which l^elonged to Great 
Rritain. Let os see what tiiese thirteen col- 
cnies wei>e, and let ik try to leam why Englidi- 
^peakii^ pecfile eaume to Ameiiea to establish 
eojcnie^. We earn imd^stand this better if 
w« know a littie abc«iit Gi^eat Britain and the 
pec^iie liTiii^ :lfrf. 

If y " "^ yon 

win se^ ^^"'^ 

Oeean : 



5^=™™**^ we^ e . - 


-_-fr > ^ 


isfes. 




very si^ 


:ii^"\ for a gr 


- 




- - 


I -_ -r—'-^ f-^ r 



Virginia 63 

other nation on the globe. En^:i-r. sLips are to "rie>^. 
V>e found in everv port. Thev take rallies mann- ^- ^^^^ 
factured in England to exchange for wheat, 
com, rice and other foodstuffs needed to fee»l 
the English x>eopIe, and woo!, cotton and other 
materials with which to mannfactnre their 
clothing, wood for their houses, and ores and 
minerals of the earth for their great factories. 
England Is so small in area, and the number of 
peofjle living there is so great, that they must 
depend on other countries for the greater i»art 
of these things. England has always been 
anxious to own more land, where her p»eople 
might go to make themselres homes. Those 
who go out to such new homes can, it is 
thought, produce what the home -folks nee«i 
and exchange wares with their fellow English- 
men on the little islands. 

"When Englishmen first began to come to this FngT f: ^ 
country to settle, the ruler of Great Britain was 
Queen Elizabeth (155.S-16<33). She was a good 
and wise queen, whom most of the English 
people loved. Many of the rulers of Cireat 
Britam had been cruel, unwise and selfish 
kings, who did not work for the good of their 
subjects, but tried to have everything for their 
own luxury and ease. Because of such rulers 
it happened that the English people were often 
compelled to do what was very wrong, and 
what they would not have done had they been 
allowed to do as thev wished. 



64 



The United States 



Two impor- 
tant reasons 
for 
colonizing. 



In this are found two of the most important 
reasons why English- speaking people estab- 
lished colonies on the shores of America. 
They were bold and adventurous sailors, 
who delighted in exploring new and unknown 
countries whose soil they could cultivate, whose 
forests they could cut down, whose iron and 
precious metals they could mine. The pro- 
ducts of their labor they would send to Eng- 
land, thus benefiting themselves and their 
country at the same time. Loving freedom 
and hating the unjust rule of cruel kings, they 
were eager to build homes for themselves in 
some new land, where they could live according 
to their own desires, and yet be Englishmen. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 

Raleigh, Among the foremost men during the reign of 

Queen Elizabeth was Sir Walter Ealeigh, a 
brave and fearless soldier and a polished and 
refined gentleman. Anxious to serve his queen, 
and eager to make his country great and pow- 
erful, he thought that an English-speaking na- 
tion, a second England, should be established 
on the shores of America, a country then but 
little known. 
And his In 1584 he sent an expedition to the coast of 

expedition. ^^iSit is uow North Carolina. Although this 
expedition resulted in great suffering and loss 
of life, Ralei^fi^h was not discouraged. He sent 



Sir Walter Raleigh 



65 



several other expeditions to America, spending 
a great deal of money on them. But these also 
were unsuccessful, so his attempt to plant an 
English-speaking nation in the New World was 
a failure. His 
efforts, however, 
had been watched 
with interest by 
the people of Eng- 
land, and the idea 
of establishing an 
English settlement 
in America be- 
came widespread. 
When, therefore, 
we speak of the 
men who started 
the foundations of 
the English colo- 
nies in America 
we should men- 
tion Raleigh first. 
After one man has 
tried to do some brave and unheard of thing, 
though he may have failed, it is not hard for 
other men, profiting by his experience, to suc- 
ceed, '^^e early 

In the early days when Englishmen first ^^^^^^l^ 
thought of making their homes in this country, know how 
all the territory between Cape Fear and the f'^^|^'^^^ 
Potomac River from the Atlantic Ocean as far was. 




Sir Walter Raleigh. 



66 



The United States 



west as the land reached was called Virginia , in 
honor of the virgin queen, Elizabeth. No one 
then realized the great breadth of our continent. 
When they found that our America was not the 
continent of Asia, they believed that this land 
was simply a great number of islands lying in 
the ocean between Europe and the eastern 
shore of Asia. Even when people began to 
realize that America was a separate continent, 
they still thought that it was very narrow, and 
that they would be able to find a passage 
through which they could sail their ships and 
reach Asia. When the ships of the Europeans 
first sailed into such rivers as the James, the 
Potomac, the Delaware, the Hudson or the St. 
Lawrence the sailors said, "Now we have found 
the passage for which we have been looking." 
But when they sailed their ships farther up 
these rivers, they learned that their passage 
was barred either by falls or by the shallowness 
of the water. 



The first 
Virginians. 



Settlement 

of 

Jamestown. 



JAMESTOWN 

About twenty years after Sir Walter Raleigh's 
unsuccessful attempt to establish a settlement in 
this country, on May 13, 1G07, three ship -loads 
of tired and worn Englishmen were standing on 
the soil of Virginia. Their stout little ships 
were riding at anchor on the James Eiver, which 
flows into Chesapeake Bay and joins there the 
waters of the Potomac and other rivers. 



Jamestown 67 

In a wild and unbroken land, hemmed in on 
all sides with dense forests where every tree 
might be a lurking place for a wild and 
treacherous Indian, these men began the work 
which resulted in opening the western conti- 
nent to the distant England. Thousands of 
miles of stormy waters lay between them and 
their homes. 

They were ill -prepared for their great work ; Disappoint- 
they had come expecting to find the river beds "^^^^^ ^^ *''^ 
shining with gold, and the hills and valleys 
glittering with precious stones. In this way 
the people in England thought of this distant 
and unknown Virginia. Instead, they found a 
rough, rugged country, beautiful, it is true, but 
covered with forests. The jewels and gold were 
not to be seen. 

Disappointed at not finding gold, and having 
been accustomed at home to an idle life, the 
greater part of this little band became dis- 
couraged and anxious to return to England. 
Their leaders, however, were brave men. They 
began to cut down the trees and build rude huts 
to protect themselves from the rain and cold, 
and they influenced the men by their example 
to do the same. These men were the first 
Virginians, and the little cluster of huts which 
they built on the James River and called James- 
town, in honor of their king, James I (1603- 
1625), was the first permanent settlement of 
English-speaking people in the New World. 



68 The United States 

They cleared little patches of ground, spaded 
it and planted a few seeds. But the discontent 
rife among them was hard to overcome. 



JOHN SMITH 

John Smith jjg^(^ i^ j^Q^ been for one man in that little 
band. band of Englishmen, a man who was not afraid 

of work and who was accustomed to command 
men and have them obey liim, this attempt 
would probably, like that of Raleigh, have 
been a failure. But Captain John Smith was a 
brave, daring soldier, and not the man to be 
beaten. He forced the men to build cabins. 
He told them that if they did not plant seeds 
there would be no food for them the coming 
winter. He sailed up the James Eiver and 
tramped through the forests. He showed the 
Indians a mariner's compass, and told them 
about the stars and the sun and the moon, and 
he showed them how he could fire his gun and 
hit some object at a distance with the little 
leaden bullet. The poor Indians were afraid of 
him, for they thought he was a wizard come 
perhaps to destroy them, so they gave him food 
for his little band. 

Captain John Smith learned from the Indians 
how to plant and raise the native maize, or 
Indian corn, as the white men called it. On 
one occasion, when Captain Smith knew there 
was to be an eclipse of the moon, he told the 



John Smith 



69 



Indians that if they did not give him food the 
moon would become darkened at a certain time. 
The Indians did not believe him, for they could 
not see how any man could tell when the moon 
would become darkened. But when at night 
the shadow becfan to cover the 



bright 



moon 




Captain John Smith. 



they were frightened, and quickly sent food to 
the hungry settlers at Jamestown. In these 
ways Captain John Smith prevented starvation 
in the little colony. 

More adventurers came from England. They stm other 
were, however, little better than the first in colonists. 



70 The United States 

their williDgness to do hard work. The men 
suffered for want of food. Their huts were not 
proper! 5^ built, and they were often cold and 
wet, while the Indians were at all times danger- 
ous neighbors. But Captain Smith and the 
other leaders were resolute in their determina- 
tion to establish a second England in Virginia. 
They were successful, for, after a few years of 
hard work and great suffering and danger, 
ships began to come from England with men 
better able to contend with the difficulties of 
pioneer life, and thus the settlement at James- 
town was saved. 
Captain Duriug thcsc first years of trial and hardship 

eX^redthe Captaiu Smith made many voyages on the 
coast. rivers of the new land and on the ocean, both 

up and down the coast. He sailed up the James 
River to the falls above the spot where now the 
city of Richmond is built. He saw the little 
falls of the Potomac, where Washington fisher- 
men now go to catch black bass. He built his 
camp fires where the city of Baltimore now 
stands. He sailed out into the ocean and up 
the coast to the Delaware River. He followed 
the New England coast, naming capes and bays. 
It is said that in three months this bold captain 
traveled nearly three thousand miles. When, 
in 1609, Captain Smith returned to England, 
after two years of hard work, the little settle- 
ment at Jamestown was beginning to be strong, 
and the settlers were beginning to feel more 



A New Plan 71 

secure in their new homes. The Captain wrote 
a history of Virginia, and made a map of the 
country through which he traveled while on his 
exploring expeditions. The country north of 
Long Island had been called North Virginia, 
but on his map Smith called it New England. 

A NEW PLAN 

New leaders, no braver than Smith, but wiser organiza- 
perhaps, were sent to Virginia. Idle men who tio^^ofthe 

T -I 1 . 1 T 1 1 -, . colony. 

did no work were told they would receive no 
food, and the vicious and unruly were pun- 
ished. The colony thus became a place of 
order and honest work. 

In the beginning, whatever food was raised by 
the hard workers of the little band, or obtained 
by the leaders from the Indians, was divided 
among all, so that a man received food whether 
he did any work or not. This bad plan was now 
changed. The new leaders said, "He who does no 
work shall receive no food." So each man found 
it to his advantage to do his share of the work. 
Better houses were built, larger clearings in 
the forests were made, the Indian corn was 
cultivated, and the discontented soon found 
that in their w^ork their discontent vanished. 

ENGLISH WOMEN 

During the first few years of English settle- 
ment ill America there were no white women in 



72 The United States 

Virginia. Jamestown was a town of men who 
had to cook their own meals and attend to 
their own little cabins. When at night, tired 
after a hard day's work, they returned to their 
firesides, no smiling, gentle faces were there to 
Women wclcome and cheer them. In 1619 a ship load 
colonists. ^^ women came from England to give their aid 
to their stronger brothers. The women of Eng- 
land began to do their share in the bnildhig 
of another England, in America. The men 
became more contented and happy. They now 
took pride in making their cabins more com- 
fortable and homelike, and in clearing the land 
surrounding their homes for the cultivation of 
beans, maize and other foods. The coming of 
the women and the establishment of pleasant 
home life caused the men to look upon Vir- 
ginia, and not the distant England, as their 
permanent home. All did what they could to 
make their settlement in the New World as 
attractive and pleasant for themselves and their 
families as possible. 

TOBACCO 

The English Whcu Sir Walter Ealeigh (1584) sent his 
to^baccr expeditions to North Carolina the Indians were 
found chewing and smoking the leaves of a 
plant. The Englishmen called the plant tobac- 
co, from the word "tabaco" by which some of 
the Indians designated the pipe in which the 



Tobacco 73 

broken leaves were smoked. Some of this to- 
bacco was taken back to England, where the 
people began to take pleasure in astonishing 
their friends by smoking it and puffing the 
smoke from their mouths. The demand for it 
soon became very great, for almost every one 
wished to try this new, strange weed. 

So, too, the settlers at Jamestown saw the 
Indians using tobacco, which they cultivated 
in considerable quantities. The English soon 
discovered that the soil of Virginia was well 
suited for tobacco raising, and, as the people 
at home were anxious to get tobacco, the set- 
tlers began to turn their attention to supplying 
the demand. 

As other people came over from England Rise of trade 
from time to time, the colony gradually grew eoioTiIsInd 
larger. The ships which brought settlers were the mother 
sent back loaded with tobacco, for the settlers ^"^^^^^y- 
soon found that they could trade tobacco in 
England for such things as they needed in 
Virginia. Ships loaded with food, clothing, 
furniture, and indeed with anything which 
the settlers wanted, were sent from England, 
and the cargoes were given to the settlers in 
exchange for the much prized tobacco. Well- 
to-do, hard working farmers in England saw 
that they could become rich by going to Vir- 
ginia and raising tobacco. 

If one settler had something which his neigh- Tobacco as 
bor wanted, he sold it to him for so many ^^"^^^^ 



74 



The United States 



pounds of tobacco. In those early days to- 
bacco was used as money in the colony. 



Its growth 
on planta- 
tions. 



PLANTATIONS 

The demand for tobacco became so great in 
England that the settlers in Virginia devoted 
most of their energies to raising it. The low- 
lands near the rivers were soon turned into 
great tobacco farms. These farms were called 
plantations, and the farmers were called plan- 
ters. As the country near Jamestown became 
covered with plantations, the new settlers who 
came from time to time settled in other parts 
of Virginia. They sailed further up the James 
and ventured on other rivers. Up the creeks, 
and on little bays or at convenient bends of 
streams, little towns were built where ships from 
England could unload their cargoes and be filled 
with tobacco for the consumers in England. 



BOKOUGHS 

Boroughs. Usually each of these little towns consisted 
of only a few cabins, a church and a store or two 
perhaps, where the planters could get food and 
clothing in exchange for the tobacco raised on 
the surrounding plantations. Each little settle- 
ment with the plantations near it was called a 
borough. In a short time there were eleven 
such boroughs in the new colony of Virginia. 



Bond -Servants 75 



BOND -SERVANTS 



Since there is a ^reat deal of work connected ^°"*^- 

• 11 • • T 1 in servants. 

With tobacco raising, and because nearly all 
the settlers wanted to clear land and start 
plantations, they needed many men to help 
them. So the English began to send ships over 
to Virginia with prisoners from the English 
jails, or poor, idle workmen found in the large 
cities of Great Britain. The English rented 
these men to the planters for a term of years 
for a certain sum of money or a certain quantity 
of tobacco. They worked for the planters on 
the plantations, receiving in return what food 
and clothing they needed. They received no 
pay. They were for the time being slaves. 
Such laborers are called bond -servants. Often 
innocent working men, going from their work 
or walking with their families, were forced on 
board a ship in England and taken to Virginia 
to be rented to the planters as bond -servants. 

When a bond- servant had worked the term of They 
years for which he had been rented, he became fre^"^^ 
free. He could clear the land for a planta.tion 
of his own, where he could raise tobacco, and 
perhaps, in his turn, rent bond- servants to help 
him in his work. In this way many of the idle 
and bad men of England learned to lead better 
lives. And the innocent men who had been 
taken to Virginia against their will were able 
to send for their families at home and estab- 



76 



The United States 



lisli themselves in pleasant homes in this new 
country. Large numbers of these bond- 
servants were brought to Virginia in the 
course of a few years. 



SLAVES 



The arrival 
of negroes, 



And their 
enslave- 
ment. 



One day, in 1619, a ship sailed into Chesa- 
peake Bay on which were a number of black 
people from Africa, in chains. The white men 
called these Africans "negroes," from the Latin 
word " niger," meaning black. 

These negroes had been captured in Africa 
and had been brought to Virginia to be sold 
to the planters as slaves. Unlike the bond- 
servants, they did not become free after a cer- 
tain number of years. They were slaves as 
long as they lived, and their children, too, 
were slaves, and were made to work on the 
plantations as soon as their little muscles were 
strong enough. 

These Africans were savages and very igno- 
rant. But they were very strong, and able to 
do a great deal of work. As Africa is a 
hot country, those Africans who were brought 
to this country as slaves did not suffer on 
account of the long Virginia summers, because 
they were used to the hot sun. Few people 
thought it was wrong to capture these negroes 
and sell them as slaves, so the slave trade 
became a very prosperous business, both for 



Indians 77 

the men who brought the negroes to America 
and for the planters who bought them for work 
on their great plantations. This was the real 
beginning of the slave trade in this country, 
although nearly one hundred years before, on 
about that same spot, an attempt was made by 
the Spanish to establish a settlement with 
slaves. Large numbers of slaves were now 
brought to this country, more plantations were 
cleared and planted with tobacco, new settle- 
ments were made, so Virginia fast became a 
very prosperous colony of Great Britain. 



INDIANS 

When the Englishmen first came to Virginia The Indians 
the forests were inhabited by Indians, who ofvu-gmia. 
were wild and veiy cruel. While Captain 
John Smith remained they were not very 
troublesome, because they feared this man. 
But the Indians saw that their land was being 
taken from them, and they saw their forests, 
where they had roamed at will, being cut down. 
On the rivers where they had fished, and where 
they had glided up and down in their little 
canoes, they now saw great ships with big 
white sails. The Englishmen at first treated 
the Indians well, but as they could easily be 
cheated the white men were inclined to impose 
on them. 

The Indians then began to annoy the white 



78 



The United States 



Their 
hostility 
toward the 
settlers. 



men and do what they could to drive them out 
of the country. They murdered the planters, 
burned their homes, killed their cattle, and 
destroyed their plantations. Sometimes the 
settlers united and made war against them, and 
drove them far into the forests. Then perhaps 
the white men would be left unmolested for 
years to work their plantations. But when new 
plantations were made, distant from the little 
towns, the Indians again became so trouble- 
some that the lives of the settlers were never 
secure. Sometimes an entire town would be 
destroyed by these wild men ; the inhabitants 
would be killed, and all the houses burned. 

The best men in the colony tried to prevent 
these attacks by buying the land from the 
Indians. But the Indians were treacherous, and 
often when they appeared to be most friendly 

they were plot- 
ting for the de- 
struction of the 
white men. Un- 
til after the war 
of the Revolution 
the Indians and 
white men were 
fighting one another from time to time. The 
settlers had to be constantly on their guard, 
especially when they were not near a town or in 
a thickly settled borough. As the settlements 
of the white men became larger and stronger, 




Indian Earthenware. 
From a mound in Arkansas. 



House of Burgesses 79 

the Indians were gradually driven further back 
into the forests and mountains. Then the 
Virginians living in towns near the rivers 
and the shores of Chesapeake Bay were not 
much troubled by them. 

HOUSE OF BURGESSES 

At first affairs in the Virginia colony were 
managed by a company of rich men in Eng- 
land. When, however, the colony became 
stronger and more prosperous, the King of 
England, James I, began to meddle with the 
government of Virginia. The settlers had been 
accustomed when in England to have some 
voice in the government, so they thought they 
ought to have similar privileges in Virginia. 
They thought they should not be called on to 
contribute money for the support of the colony 
unless they also had the right to say how that 
money should be spent. So loud were they 
in demanding this right that the company in 
England allowed them to have a legislature. 
Each one of the boroughs about which you 
have been told was to send two of its repre- 
sentative men to this legislature, where, when 
assembled, they formed the House of Burgesses 
or the House of Representatives. The first The first 
House of Burgesses met at Jamestown on Burgesses. 
July 30, 1619. We should aMays remember 
this date, for in that first meeting the spirit 



80 



The United States 



spirit of 
freedom of 
the Ameri- 
can colonies 



First expres- ^f freecloiii of tliG Americaii colonies found ex- 

sion of the . f^, . . . . ^^. . . 

pression. This spnit grew m Vn-gmia and other 
colonies until it resulted in the establishment 
of the United States as a separate government. 
James I, who died in 1625, was succeeded by 
his son Charles, who became King of England 
as Charles I (1625-1649). King Charles had 
so many serious matters at home to take his 
attention that for a few years he did not give 
much thought to the settlement of Englishmen 
in America. The king, however, finally became 
interested in the Virginia settlement, and wished 
to derive some benefit from it, so he dissolved 
the Virginia Company in England, whose mem- 
Royai gov- ])e,Ys wcrc quarreling among themselves, and 
vi'r-inil*! sent, in 1629, the first royal governor to Vir- 



The House of Burgesses could make many 
laws, but if the king and his governor did 
not think these laws were what they should 
be, the colony could not be governed by them. 

The governors were changed from time to 
time. Some of the governors were good, wise 
men, who were in sympathy with the colonists, 
and let them govern themselves much as they 
pleased. Others were cruel, imjust men, who 
would not give the colonists their rights. 
This was sure to cause trouble. The colo- 
nists insisted that they should have the power 
to determine hhw much money was to be col- 
lected by them and how it was to be spent 



House of Burgesses 



81 



for the good of the colony. They insisted that 
they were to make laws by which they were to 
be governed, while the governor insisted that 
the colonists should do as he might direct. 

From 1649 to 1660 there was no king in The com- 

„ -, „, IT, monwealth 

Hingland. The country was ruled to a great in England. 

extent by the people, with Oliver 

Cromwell, and later his son, at 

the head of the government as 

protector. This period was called 

the period of the Commonwealth. 

In 1660, however, Charles, son 

of Charles I, was placed on the 

throne as King Charles II (1660- 

1685). 

In 1676, when William Berkeley 
was the governor of Virginia, the 
colonists were so badly treated 
that they took up arms against *)?"! 
him and drove him out of James- 
town. But receiving aid from 
England, he marched against the 
little band of colonists. When the colonists, wiiiiam 
who were led by a man named Bacon, saw ^*^^*^^^^>' 
they could not hold Jamestown, they burned 
the town to prevent the governor from getting 
possession of it. 

Bacon at one time nearly succeeded in driv- Bacon's 
ing the governor and his followers out of 
Virginia. Had he succeeded in this, his plan 
was to establish Virginia as a little nation free 




A Virginia Cavalier. 



Rebellion. 



82 



The United States 



We should 

honor 

Bacon. 



Troubles 
not settled 
till the 

Revolution. 



from England. But the king sent over more 
soldiers to support his governor, and Bacon 
died of fever soon afterward, so, as there was 
no one who seemed to have the courage and 
ability to carry on the rebellion, the royal 
governor was in the end victorious. After 
this he was more cruel and unjust than 
ever. Finally, in 1677, the complaints be- 
came so strong against him that he was re- 
called to England and another man sent in 
his place. 

Bacon was called a traitor, and his attempt 
to help the colonists was called a rebellion. 
But we, in this day, should honor him for 
trying to make the rule of the governors less 
cruel and the lives of the settlers freer and 
happier. 

This trouble between Bacon and Governor 
Berkeley happened just one hundred years 
before the Declaration of Independence was 
issued by the thirteen colonies. 

Jamestown was never rebuilt. The capital 
was in time moved to Williamsburg, where it 
remained until it was established in Richmond, 
now the capital of the state of Virginia. We 
can see today some of the ruins of Jamestown, 
the first English settlement in America. 

Although other governors sent to Virginia 
were better men than Berkeley, yet the trouble 
between the colonists and the king's governors 
continued until the Revolution, 



Massachusetts 83 



3. MASSACHUSETTS 



Let us see how the other colonies were born 
and grew strong enough to declare themselves 
free, and, with Virginia, finally establish them- 
selves as the United States. 

One of the rights which every one in this Religious 
country enjoys is that of worshiping God as he tL 
thinks best. A man may go to church where united 
he pleases, and need not pay money toward the 
support of any church, against his will. 

When, in 1585, Englishmen began to think 
of establishing colonies in America there was 
but one recognized religion in England. All 
the people were forced to worship according 
to the forms of this religion. Every one was 
called on to go to church and to help support Formerly in 
the church. People who did not do so were Engi^^/the 

^ form of 

very severely punished. The ruler of Great religion was 
Britain was the head of the church as well as established 

by law. 

of the government of the country. 

The rules of the church were very strict, and 
there were a great many ceremonies connected 
with the service. During the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth the number of people who thought 
there were too many ceremonies connected 
with the service began to grow very large. 

PURITANS 

These people thought the service should be 
made more simple, and sought to lessen the 



84 The United States 

The rise of number of ceremonies. They called this ^'puri- 
Puritans. f ying " the cliurcli, and for this reason they 
came to be known as Pmitans. Some of the 
Puritans even dared to say that the queen was 
not the head of the church, but this was consid- 
ered treason, and was punished as such. They 
determined to leave the old church, that they 
might worship God as they pleased. It was 
thought very wrong for anyone to want to leave 
the old established church. Those who did so 
had to meet in secret places to hold their 
church services. They were often driven from 
their meeting places and some of them were 
thrown into jail, and sometimes their leaders 
were exiled from England. 

This quarrel between the extreme Puritans 
and the old Church of England continued 
many years. The Church of England was not 
willing that the Puritans should worship as 
they pleased. The Puritans would not give up 
their right to do so. 

At last, in 1608, when Captain John Smith 

and his fellow Englishmen were struggling to 

establish a settlement in Virginia, a little band 

ThePuri- of Puritaus, men, women and children, left 

tans left their homes in England and went to Holland, 

England for ^ i^ i i i n 

Holland. where they could worship Grod as they pleased. 
Holland was a very different country from Eng- 
land. The people were strange and spoke a 
strange language, but they were kind to the Eng- 
lishmen, and tried to make them feel at home. 



The Puritans 



85 



When the Puritans reached Holland nearly Their 
all of them were very poor, for it was not an ^^^^^'^^g^- 
easy matter for so many people to leave Eng- 
land at one time and get a proper value for 
their homes, farm implements and cattle. It 
was hard for them to make a living in a 




The Mayflower. 

strange land, so they often suffered for want 
of food. Notwithstanding this they were 
happy, because they could worship God as 
they thought best. 

Within a few years there were more than a 
thousand of these brave English Puritans 
living in Holland. But they were Englishmen, 



86 The United States 

and loved their country and its customs. 
They were afraid that should they continue to 
live in Holland they would become less like 
Englishmen and more like the people of Hol- 
land. They knew that their children, growing 
up in a place where a language different from 
their own was spoken, would be likely to for- 
get the English language. They would come 
to look on Holland and not England as 
their home. Eeports came to them of the suc- 
cessful establishment of a colony in Virginia. 
" Why can we not go to this new land and 
build up a little England for ourselves, where 
we can worship God as we please and yet be 
Englishmen I " they said ; but that land was 
so far off, and the dangers of the trip were so 
many, that they dreaded to make the attempt. 

PILGRIMS 

They At last it was decided that a little company 

became ^^ them should make the venture and become 

Pilgrims, 

Pilgrims, wanderers seeking a home where 
they could worship God as they thought best. 

In November, 1620, one hundred and two of 
these brave Pilgrims were anchored in their 
little ship "Mayflower" near Cape Cod, off the 
New England coast 

The Pilgrims had left Holland in a ship 
called the " Speedwell," and had been joined 
by the "Mayflower" off the coast of England. 



Plymouth 87 

The " Speedwell " proving unseaworthy, the 
Pilgrims on board were transferred to the 
"Mayflower," which made the long and danger- 
ous voyage alone. 

Before landing on this new and unknown 
land the Pilgrims held a service on their little 
ship, giving thanks to God that they had made 
the long voyage of sixty-three days in safety. 
They then decided how they should govern 
themselves in their new home, and wrote down 
the laws they decided on. These laws were 
their constitution, and these they promised to 
obey. This was the first body of laws made 
by the people themselves, by which any people 
living in America were governed. The Pilgrims 
elected John Carver to be their first o-overnor. 



PLYMOUTH 

Exploring the coast for a suitable place to 
land and begin the building of their homes, 
they decided on a place which Captain John 
Smith had called Plymouth on his map. 
Strange it is that many of these Pilgrims had ^^^ 
lived in a town called Plymouth, in England, Plymouth, 
before they went to Holland ; so they did not 
change the name. On the 22d of December, 
1620, the little band landed on the New Eng- 
land shore. The ground was covered wdth 
snow, and the air was cold and biting. But 
their hearts were glad that they were at last 



88 



The United States 



Their 
bravery. 



Their first 
summer in 
Plymouth. 



on soil where they would not be put in jail or 
be otherwise persecuted for thinking as they 
liked. Here they could have their own religion, 
and still be Englishmen and live as English- 
men lived at home in Old England. 

How brave were these hundred Pilgrims ! 
They had left friends, country and home 
because they would not do what they thought 
was wrong, and had come to live in a wild, 
unknown land, surrounded by all the dangers 
of cold, hunger, and the wild Indians. The 
long, cold months before the snow had left 
the hills and before the early spring flowers 
gladdened their eyes were hard ones. More 
than half the Pilgrims were lying in their 
graves when nature began to rouse herself 
from her long sleep. But when the Mayflower 
returned to England, there was not a single 
Pilgrim who was not brave enough to stay 
with his fellow- workers in Plymouth. 

Among the dead was Governor Carver. The 
little colony elected in his place William Brad- 
ford. 

The Pilgrims, who treated the Indians kindly 
and fairly, learned from them how to raise 
Indian corn. During the first summer they 
strengthened their homes and made them 
warmer and more comfortable. They were 
also able to raise considerable corn, wheat and 
other articles of food for the long, cold winter 
that was to follow. In the center of their 



Massachusetts Bay 89 

little cluster of huts was built their church. 
Although their lives were hard and full of Tiie found- 
suffering, yet they loved their little Plymouth, sXm. 
and were happy. 

During the years that the Pilgrims had been 
exiled in Holland, and while they were build- 
ing their New England homes and making 
Plymouth a safe and happy place, the Puritans 
were becoming very strong in Old England. 
A little band of them, led by John Endicott, 
came to New England in 1628 and settled at 
a place which they called Salem, a word mean- 
ing " peace." 

MASSACHUSETTS BAY 

In this same year, 1628, a great company The 
of wealthy and prosperous Puritans was formed MasTa^chu-'' 
in England for the purpose of sending settlers setts Bay. 
to the New England coast, across the ocean. 
The king, Charles I (1625-1649), the next 
king after James I, gave to this company, 
which was called the Company of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, the right to govern themselves 
as they wished. They were, however, not to 
make any laws which opposed the laws of 
England. The Massachusetts Company bought 
all the land extending across the continent 
between the Charles and Merrimac rivers. A 
company called the Plymouth Company, which 
as early as 1608 had, without success, attempted 
to plant colonies in America, sold it to them. 



90 



The United States 



JNIany new 
settlers. 



Two years after the Massachusetts Bay 
Company obtained its charter from the King 
of England, eleven ships, carrying nearly a 
thousand settlers, left different parts of Eng- 
land for the shores of Massachusetts Bay. 
The first governor of these settlers was John 
Winthrop, a wise, good and brave man, who 
knew how to treat the Indians so that they 
would be friendly, and who knew, also, how to 
govern the colonists and make them contented 
and happy. Soon several little towns were 
built on Massachusetts Bay. 



BOSTON 



The 

founding of 
Boston. 



Soon after Governor Winthrop arrived in 
New England he made his home on a little 
peninsula stretching out into the waters of 
Massachusetts Bay. The little town built there 
was afterwards called Boston, after a town in 
Old England where some of the settlers had 
lived before coming to America. Boston be- 
came the capital of the little colony, and has 
ever since then been the most important city 
in Massachusetts. 



TOWNS 



When a ship came to the New England 
shores it usually had on board families belong- 
ing to the same parish in Old England, who 



The Church 91 

had dec-ided to move in a body to the new The growth 

world, bringing with them their minister, images. 

When they landed they built their little village 

with its church in the center, and there their 

minister continued to preach to them and pray 

with them as he had done in England. In 

this way the country around Massachusetts 

Bay became dotted here and there with little 

settlements, each with its own church and its 

own minister. The settlers cleared the land 

near each settlement for farming purposes. 

Each little settlement, with its surrounding what 

farms, was called a town. The settlers in each J^'JJ^ 

town met at the church not only on Sundays, 

but at other times, to elect a new minister, or 

to admit new members into the congregation. 

And it was at the church, too, that they met 

to decide how much money they should collect 

from all the settlers of the town to pay for a 

new road, a bridge over the creek, or a 

school -house. 

THE CHUKCH 

When the Puritans were in England they ThePuri- 
had belonged to the Church of England, and ^^l'''^'''' 
had been compelled against their will to do as religious 
the church wished. When they had been in f^-^edom. 
America a short time they left the Church of 
England entirely, as the Pilgrims had done 
before they fled to Holland. 

After the Puritans had left the Church of 



92 



The United States 



But sent 



from 

themselves 
in faith. 



England they would not let any one of their 

number follow that form of worship. If by 

chance some settler preferred the forms of 

away those ^^ Qhurch of Ensfland, and desired to wor- 

tlinerinff ° ' 

ship as he had been accustomed to do in 
England, he was not allowed to stay in the 
colony, but was sent back across the ocean. 

The Puritans had suffered so much to have 
their own church that they were afraid to let 
the old form of worship obtain any footing in 
their little colony. Perhaps they were too 
strict when they sent the settlers back to Eng- 
land for not believing as they did. They 
should have remembered what they had been 
made to suffer while seeking the right to 
worship God as they pleased, and they should 
have allowed everyone to do as he liked so 
far as the question of religion was concerned, 
whether agreeing with him or not. 



FAKMS 

The Massachusetts colonists could not raise 
tobacco, as the Virginians did, because the soil 
was not suitable and the winters were too long 
and too cold. For this reason there were no 
TheMassa- great plantations in New England. The land 
chusetts ^yas divided into little farms, where the settlers 
products! ^ raised wheat and barley, and peas and other 
vegetables. They found it was so easy to culti- 
vate the Indian corn that they devoted much of 



Farms 93 

their energies to planting and raising that grain. 
As the colony grew larger and stronger the 
settlers were able to raise more corn and other 
grain than they needed. Ships which brought 
new settlers were sent back to England loaded 
with the products of the fields, which were to be 
exchanged for such things as they needed and 
had to get from England. These ships also The traffic 
carried lumber, and the furs of wild animals ^ ^.^^ 

' Puritans 

from the forests, and great quantities of fish with the 
from the waters near the settlements. All oid country, 
these were sent to England in exchange for 
other kinds of food, for furniture and for 
books. Cows and horses and pigs were 
brought from England, and the colonists began 
to live much as they had lived in the old coun- 
try. Now, however, they were governing them- 
selves and they had their own religion. 

You can see why in New England nearly Their plain 
every one of the settlers was a farmer or a j^^^^ '^^^ 
fisherman, or a little storekeeper, and why 
each man did his own work, with the help, 
perhaps, of his sons. His wife and daughters 
took care of the little home ; they milked the 
cows and made the milk into butter and 
cheese. The New England women were never 
idle. During the day, after the regular house 
work was over, and at evening when the hus- 
band and brothers had returned from the fields 
or had drawn their fishing- boats up on the 
shore for the night, the women were busily 



94 



The United States 



And 

industrious 
habits. 



Their-heip" England 

mainly from 

neighbors' 

families. 



engaged in making clothes for themselves, the 
men and the children. When a young girl was 
married she took pride in showing how much 
homespun clothing, how many sheets and blan- 
kets, table cloths and other 
necessary household articles 
she had for her housekeep- 
ing on some little clearing. 
When, on Sunday, the Puri- 
tans came from all parts of 
the settlement to the little 
church, the men carried their 
guns for a protection against 
a possible attack of some 
wild Indian. 

SLAVES AND BOND -SERVANTS 

Because the Puritans lived 
in this way there was little 
need for servants in New 
If a farmer found that he could not 
do all his work with the help of his sons, he 
would take the son of some neighboring farmer 
into his family. He treated this boy as he did 
his own sons, giving him his food, his clothing, 
and, of course, a little pay besides. This far- 
mer's son was considered one of the family for 
which he worked, and was not looked on as a 
servant. There were a few bond -servants, and 
in time also a few slaves, but the Puritans did 
not feel the need of such help. 




Puritan Costume. 



The General Court 



95 



THE GENEEAL COURT 

Bond- servants and slaves had no voice in Male church 

. , , „ members 

the government. During the early years oi conducted 
the colony none but church members were J.^g^t^^''''"" 
allowed to vote for governor, 
or for any of the colony's ^ 
officers, or to help determine 
what money should be collected 
for improvements in the col- 
ony. At that time all the 
male church members met to 
determine these things. But 
as the colony grew larger, and 
more settlements were formed, 
each little town chose its rep- 
resentative men to meet at 
the capital, Boston, to arrange 
matters for the good of all 
the people. This meeting was 
called the General Court. 

You see this was nmch like the government ^^"^ General 
of Virginia, with its House of Burgesses, but 
the men of Massachusetts elected their own 
governor, while the King of England named 
the man who should be governor of Virginia. 

Don't you think the settlers of a colony, the 
men who made the long, dangerous trip across 
the ocean, who broke the soil and planted 
seeds and raised crops, and who built their 
own little homes, were better able to determine 




Puritan Costume. 



96 The United States 

who should be their governor than a king 
several thousand miles away, who did not care 
for the colony except to make something out 
of it? 

If the kings of England had not always 
wanted to manage affairs just to suit their own 
pleasure, but had let the colonists take care 
of themselves a little more, there would have 
been no Revolution. We should probably have 
remained subjects of Great Britain. So, per- 
haps, we should be glad that the kings were 
so selfish. Otherwise our United States might 
not have existed. 
The success The Massachusctts colony was so successful, 
of the ^j^^l ^j-^g people were so happy in their new life 

colonies :J- ijiii- 

brought out of free church and free government, that ship 

many new l^^^ ^f^^g^. gj^^p \q^^ of PurltaUS CaUlC frOlU 

old England to establish little settlements. 
The colony at Plymouth, too, was growing, and 
several settlements had been established near 
and around it. 



THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS 

The Plymouth farmers were much poorer 
than those of Massachusetts Bay, because they 
had been compelled to leave their homes hur- 
riedly. The colonists who formed the Massa- 
chusetts Bay settlements had left home of 
their own free will, and had been able to take 
their household effects with them. Though for 



settlers. 



Virginia and Massachusetts 97 

this reason the Plymouth colony grew much 

more slowly than that of Massachusetts Bay, 

yet in time the farms of the one colony began 

to reach the farms of the other, so it was 

decided to unite the two for the general good 

of all. This was done in the year 1691, and Union of the 

the two colonies together became the colony andTLsV 

of Massachusetts, with many little settlements chusettsBay 

-, I ^ u J.J.1 colonies. 

and a lar^-e number or settlers. 



VIRGINIA AND MASSACHUSETTS 

You now know how two of the American 
colonies were born and were growing strong 
and prosperous— Virginia in the South and 
Massachusetts in the North. And you have 
seen how the settlers of one came to the New 
World to find riches and wealth and those of 
the other to find freedom in religion. 

Though the Virginians found that there was object of 
neither gold nor jewels for them, they soon settlers^'"''' 
discovered that there was a great deal of 
money to be made by raising tobacco in the 
rich Virginia soil. Large plantations were laid 
out, the bond- servants and slaves doing most 
of the work, while the planters directed them. 
Surrounded by plantations of tobacco, and 
having many slaves to work for them, the 
Virginians became rich. They built for them- 
selves great mansions, sometimes with brick 
brought from England, and there, under the 



98 The United States 

southern sun, their lives were to a great extent 

kixurious and easy. 
Object of On the contrary, in the North, the Puritans 

*^^., came to America for freedom and not for 

Puritans. 

wealth. The winters w^ere long and cold, and 
the soil was rocky and needed most careful 
attention before it would yield even corn, 
which is a very hardy plant. There were no 
great plantations, and few slaves. Each man 
did his own work, so New England became a 
land of farms and little settlements. Life with 
the New England farmers was a rough and 
hard one. They lived in little houses, built 
usually of wood cut from their forests, in which 
they dwelt contented and happy, not seeking 
wealth, but insisting on having their own reli- 
gion and their own government. 
Yet both jjo^ different were these first two colo- 

frlldom. iiies! And yet in each the colonists were be- 
coming accustomed to depend on themselves 
for food, shelter and protection from the dan- 
gers of a new country, and were always rest- 
less when interfered with by the rulers of 
England. 

These two colonies were far apart, but both 
were colonies of Great Britain, and both were 
growing and developing, and preparing them- 
selves for the time when they could take 
matters into their own hands and establish 
themselves as a part of a free and independ- 
ent nation. 



New York 99 



4. NEW YORK 

You now know that the Pilgrims came to 
New England from Holland, and that one 
reason for this was because they were afraid 
their children would become Dutchmen, and 
would forget England and the English lan- 
guage. 

The Dutch had for some years been sending The Dutch 
ships to the coast of America to catch fish, ^^^^""^"^^^^^1^ 
which were so plentiful there, and to trade settlements 
trinkets with the Indians for furs, but they had in the 
not attempted to plant a settlement in the 
New World. When, however, they learned of 
the success of the Pilgrims who had lived 
with them, they said to themselves, " Why 
should not we, too, have colonies in America?" 
Virginia and New England belonged to Great 
Britain, which claimed, also, the land between 
these two settlements. But the Dutch did not 
recognize this claim. They said, "America does 
not belong to the English; it belongs to the 
Indians. If we buy the land of the Indians 
and establish settlements over there, England 
can have nothing to do with it at all." 



HENRY HUDSON 

The Dutch had another claim to land in 
America. While Captain John Smith and his 
fellow Virginians were building Jamestown, and 

Lore. 



100 



The United States 



Henry 
Hudson 
sailed up a 
river. 



The Dutcli 
claimed the 
country 
through 
which the 
river flows. 



at the time when the Puritans were leaving 
England for Holland, an English sailor, Henry 
Hudson, was employed by the Dutch to make 
voyages of discovery in America. In the hope 
of finding a passage through the continent by 
wdiicli ships might sail from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific Ocean, he sailed up a river which 
is now called the Hudson in his honor. He 
did not succeed in reaching the Pacific, of 
course, but he saw and was impressed by the 
fine country through which the Hudson flows. 

The Dutch did not forget what he told them 
on his return. They remembered that he had 
brought great quantities of valuable furs to 
Holland, and now they determined to establish 
a colony on the banks of the Hudson, so that 
they could get more furs from the Indians. 

They did not ask England's consent to estab- 
lish a colony in the New World. They claimed 
that the country through which the Hudson 
River flows belonged to them, because Henry 
Hudson, who sailed in their ship, had dis- 
covered it. 



NEW NETHERLANDS 

A great portion of the city of New York, 
the largest city in the United States, is built 
on an island, called Manhattan Island, at the 
mouth of the Hudson Eiver. In 1626, the Dutch 
bought this island from the Indians for trinkets 
which would, perhaps, be worth today about 



The Fur Trade 101 

twenty -five dollars. They built there a little 
town, which they called New Amsterdam, after 
a large city of their own country across the 
ocean, called Amsterdam. 

All the land between the Connecticut and 
Delaware Rivers was claimed by the Dutch, 
under the name of New Netherlands. 



THE FUR TRADE 

The Dutch did not expect to find gold and The purpose 
riches lying on the ground to be picked up ^^J^^^^ 
at will, nor did they come to this country 
because they were dissatisfied with affairs at 
home. They came because they knew the for- 
ests were filled with wild animals, and that 
those wild animals were covered with warm, 
furry skins, which, if taken to the old countr}^, 
would be very valuable. The Dutch realized 
that if they could get these furs for nothing 
by killing the animals, or very cheap by trad- 
ing beads and looking-glasses and other like 
things for them, they could make a great deal 
of money in a very easy way. 

They did not attempt to till the soil. They 
built their little town of New Amsterdam, and 
then began to get all the furs they could, either 
by killing the animals or by trading with the 
Indians. The Indians were pleased with the Their 
Dutch, for these men had bought their island '^!f,'"'P 

' ^ ^ with the 

of them, and they gave them pretty things for Indians. 



102 



The United States 



Success of 
the Dutch 
settlers. 



the furs they brought in. Between the Dutch 
and the Indians there was no trouble at first. 

The first Dutch settlers were so successful 
in their fur business tliat soon other Dutch- 
men came to New Netherlands, and also many 
Englishmen and people from other countries. 
New settlements w^ere built further up the 
Hudson, nearer the Indians, and on the Dela- 
ware River, also, trading j)osts were established. 



DUTCH TOWNS 



Quaint The Virginians lived on plantations, the 

Dutch towns settlers of Massachusetts lived on little farms, 

and houses. . 

but the Dutch lived m towns. And what 
funny towns they were ! The streets of New 
Amsterdam were very narrow and 
crooked. The houses, which were 
built of brick brought from far 
across the ocean, had steep, high 
roofs, with little windows, which 
looked like great eyes keeping 
watch to see that no hostile ships 
sailed into the bay. Each little 
house had its porch in front, over- 
looking the street. On these 
stoops, as they were called, the 
men at night sat smoking their 
long pipes and chatting in Dutch 
with their neighbors. Sometimes, 

Dutch Bukohek Costume. tOO, the WOmCU WOUld joiu their 




Landed Proprietors 



103 



husbands in these evening visits. But the 
Dutch women liked to keep everything so clean 
about the house that 
they did not find much 
time for idle talk. They 
scrubbed and scoured 
their floors, walls, tables 
and dishes until every- 
thing looked as bright 
and clean as it could. 
Perhaps this is w^hy the 
men w^ent out of doors 
to smoke and exchange 
the news of the day. 
Perhaps they feared to 
get a speck of dirt on 
the snow-white floors. 
Some of the old Dutch 
houses can still be seen in New York city. 




Dutch Buegher Costume 



LANDED PROPRIETOKS 



The soil in the forest was very rich. After 
all the animals near the settlements had been 
killed, and much of the wood had been sent to The 
Holland, the Dutchmen began to think of cul- Dutchmen 

1 T ^ • c n^^ uetermmed 

tivating the ground and makmg farms. The to make 
settlers or traders already in New Netherlands *^^^^^^- 
were so anxious to make money out of the fur 
trade that they did not care to devote any of 
their time to the cultivation of the soil. A 



104 



The United States 



The landed 
proprietors. 



The small 
farmers. 



strip of land sixteen miles wide was, therefore, 
promised to anyone who would bring to the 
new colony fifty settlers. At a time when 
people in many countries were walling to estab- 
lish homes in a new land, if they could only 
get there, it was not a difficult matter for 
some enterprising man with money to gather 
together a little company of fifty people. Very 
soon the banks of the Hudson became peo- 
pled with tillers of the soil. The man to whom 
the land had been given for bringing the fifty 
settlers was called a proprietor, who ruled his 
little settlement of people himself. He built 
himself a great, fine house, where he lived 
in ease, while his fifty settlers cut down the 
trees and cultivated the soil. Those who had 
come to New Amsterdam at his expense worked 
for the proprietor for several years without 
pay, and in that way learned the ways of the 
Dutch colony. At the same time they made 
the proprietor's land very valuable. 

When these men had learned how to make 
a success of farming, and when if they had 
come from some other country than Holland 
they had learned the Dutch language, they left 
the man who had brought them over and 
established themselves on farms of their own. 
Perhaps they would rent a little patch of land 
from the proprietor, and establish themselves 
on the land where they had worked for him» 
as his servants. Then the fine mansion and 



Dutch Governors 105 

gTOunds of the proprietor were in time sur- 
rounded by many little farms. Each had 
houses and barns of its own. The proprietor 
was looked up to by his former servants, and 
was a great man in the country. In this way 
New Netherlands became a farming colony as 
well as one of trade. Many of the families 
living in New York today can trace their 
ancestry back to those early farmers, and some 
of the great farms established at that time are 
still owned by their descendants. 



DUTCH GOVERNOR 



In 1G26, the Dutch Republic sent Governor 
Minuet to New Netherlands to manage affairs character 
in the colony. The Dutch colonists were gov- *^^^ ^"^^^ 

governors. 

erned much as they had been at home, and as 
they were pretty well satisfied with their treat- 
ment, there was little complaint. Everything 
went well, and the colony was prosperous under 
the rule of Governor Minuet. 

With other governors, however. New Nether- 
lands did not prosper so well. Governor Keift 
was an unwise man and a dishonest one, too. 
He began to give the Indians rum for their 
furs. As the Indians liked this rum, they 
would do anything to get it. The fiery 
liquor made them savage and cruel, and they 
attacked the Dutch settlers and killed many of 
them. Then, too, the governor demanded that 



106 



The United States 



Twelve rep- 
resentatives 
advised the 
governor. 



the Indians should give the white men a quan- 
tity of furs every now and then for the privi- 
lege of trading with them. Of course, the 
Indians did not like to do this. They knew 
the white men were making more by the fur 
trade than they were. They became very dan- 
gerous. But finally, when they began to burn 
the villages of the settlers and to murder the 
people, the governor determined to make war 
on them. He did not like to do this of his 
own accord, because the settlers seemed to 
think he was to blame for all the trouble with 
the Indians. So he called together twelve of 
the representative men to help him decide 
what to do. These men could not come to an 
understanding with the governor, so they were 
dismissed by him. Yet they had a taste of 
helping to decide matters in the colony and, as 
this is the first instance of a representative 
government in New York, the date of August 
29, 1641, should not be forgotten. The Indians 
became more and more cruel, and murdered 
many of the settlers. At last the governor 
made war on them, and for several years 
there was bloodshed between the white men 
and their Indian neisrhbors. 



PETER STUYVESANT 



In 1647 Governor Keift became so disliked 
by the colonists that he was recalled, and 



Peter Stuyvesant 107 

Peter Stuyvesant was sent in his place from 
Holland. 

Peter Stuyvesant was a very strict, harsh ^^^^'* 

, . ITT 1 stuyvesant. 

man, but he was just to the Indians and 
treated them well, causing them to become 
friendly with the Dutch again. Though Stuy- 
vesant was able to straighten things out in 
the little colony, yet the colonists did not like 
his stern rule. They did not forget their 
twelve select men chosen in 1641 to consult 
with the governor. They heard of the General 
Court of Massachusetts and the House of 
Burgesses of Virginia. Fierce quarrels were And his 
waged between them and Governor Stuvvesant. ^i^^^''^! 

^ " with the 

They began to demand that they, too, should colonists, 
be allowed to have a House of Representatives, 
which should help to govern the colony. 

When this quarrel had grown most bitter English in- 
the English began to interfere with the little terference. 
Dutch colony of New Netherlands. "What's 
this!" the English king said. "A Dutch colony 
on my American shore ! What right have the 
Dutch in America? That land belongs to me, 
and the furs, too, which the Dutchmen are 
buying from the Indians for almost nothing 
and selling in Holland for so much money." 

NEW YORK 

So in 1664, the king of England, Charles H, 
gave the little colony to his brother the Duke 



108 



The United States 



The Duke 
of York 
gained 
possession 



of York and told him he could do with it as 
he pleased. Don't you think it was rather 
strange for a man to give something away 
which did not belong to him ! But this was a 
very common thing for kings to do. 

The Duke of York, however, did not think 
the Dutch would be willing to let him take 
their colony. So a large fleet was sent to 
America. Governor Stuyvesant himself made 
a great show of defending the colony, and was 
very angry that anyone should dare to take it 
from him. Yet so many of the colonists were 
Englishmen, and they as well as the Dutch 
settlers were so dissatisfied with the way they 
had been treated, that the Duke of York did 
not have much difficulty in gaining possession 
of New Amsterdam. In this way it happened 
that the English flag was raised in place of 
that of Holland in New Netherlands 

The name New Amsterdam was changed to 
New York. The whole colony was called b}^ 
was changed that uamc, too. A fcw ycars later, when there 
New York ^^^ troublc across the ocean between England 
and Holland, the colony came under Dutch rule 
again. This was for a short time only, for 
the trouble between the mother countries being 
settled, the colony of New Amsterdam was 
given by the Dutch government to England. 

The town of New York, as well as the whole 
colony far up the Hudson River, grew larger 
and richer, until today New York City is the 



And the 
name New 
Amsterdam 



Maryland 109 

largest and richest city in the United States, and 
the state of New York is called the Empire State. 
After the Duke of York became the pro- 
prietor of New York, and before he became 
King of England as James II (1G85-1688), The Duke 
he made many promises to the colonists. This false 
led them to think that they would receive fair promises. 
treatment from him when he became king. 
But James II seemed to think that promises 
made while Duke of York were not binding. 
He did not believe in giving the colonists 
any power to govern themselves. The spirit 
of freedom, however, was growing in New 
York, as well as in Virginia and Massachusetts, 
and after James's death, when there were other 
rulers in England, the New York colonists 
gained the right to have a House of Eepre- Growth of 
sentatives of their own. But England treated f^e Jom!* ""^ 
New York no better than she did her other 
colonies, so there was constant trouble between 
the colony and the royal governors. 



5. MARYLAND 

The Puritans were not the only people in 
England who were badly treated because of 
their religious belief. The Catholics, who 
neither belonged to the Church of England nor 
believed as the Puritans believed, were not 
allowed to worship God in peace in the manner 
which they thought right. 



110 The United States 



THE CALVEKTS 



In Maryland Among the Catholics of England was one 
Baltimore ^^^ ^^^^ wislied to establish a colony in 
established America where the Catholics would not be 
a colony for ^..^^^^^i^,^ ^i^j^^^, ]^ the Cliurch of England or 

Roman •^ ^ ^ 

Catholics, by the Puritans. This man was George Cal- 
vert, whom the English king, James I, had 
honored with the title of Lord Baltimore. 

George Calvert first attempted, in 1621, to 
form a settlement in Newfoundland, and for 
that purpose went there in 1627 with his family 
and many followers. The soil being poor and the 
climate cold, he was unsuccessful. However, he 
did not abandon his purpose to form a colony. 

Exploring the country on the north shore 
of the Potomac Eiver, and, finding it suitable 
in every respect for the establishment of a 
colony, he sought and obtained from Charles I 
a grant to a great territory. This land, which 
lay on Chesapeake Bay and on the Potomac 
Eiver, he called Maryland, in honor of Queen 
Maria, the wife of Charles I. Of this territory 
he was to be the proprietor for life. 

Before he was able to form any settlement in 
his Maryland, George Calvert died. His son, 
the second Lord Baltimore, who became the 
proprietor of Maryland on his father's death, 
established, in the year 1634, a little settlement 
at the mouth of the Potomac, which he called 
St. Mary's. 



The Maryland Colonists 111 

Here the settlers could worship God as they 
pleased, whether they were Catholics or not. 
Every man had a voice in the government 
of the little settlement. Dissatisfied Puritans Growth of 
came here from New England, and Virginians ^ ^^ ^^^' 
who were badly treated in the colony across the 
river came to Maryland to settle, because of the 
great freedom which Lord Baltimore gave to 
his settlers. 

THE MAEYLAND COLONISTS 

Because the soil of Maryland, like that of And of its 
Virginia, was suitable for the raising of tobacco, *^"^^^- 
large plantations were laid out on the Potomac 
and on the other rivers and streams which 
flow into Chesapeake Bay. Slaves were bought 
by the settlers, and many bond- servants were 
brought from England. 

New settlements were formed, and the colony 
grew in population until there were too many 
people to allow them all to meet in any one 
place to help the proprietor decide matters. 
The colonists then sent representative men to 
the capital, St. Mary's, where they and Lord 
Baltimore, or the governor whom he appointed, 
made the laws by which the colony was 
governed. 

Many of the colonists now devoted their 
efforts to the raising of wheat. Much wheat 
and flour was sent to England, where it was 
exchanged for things the Marylanders needed. 



112 The United States 

Many of the owners of lai'ge plantations built 
themselves wharfs, where vessels from England 
could come to unload their cargoes, and be 
loaded in turn with tobacco, grain and flour. 



BALTIMOKE 

The Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, was 

founding of founded in 1729. So successful were the plan- 
ters in Maryland that Baltimore soon became 
one of the important cities of America. Each 
year great numbers of ships came into Chesa- 
peake Bay from England, bringing new settlers 
and supplies for the colonists, and each year 
these ships returned laden with the tobacco and 
wheat which the soil of Maryland had gener- 
ously given and the flour which the Maryland 
millers had ground. 

The Calvert family continued to be the pro- 
prietors of Maryland until the Revolutionary 
War, with the exception of a few years, when 
the ruler of Great Britain sent royal gover- 
nors. So happily were affairs managed in 
The Maryland, and so prosperous were her inhab- 

piospentj j^r^j^^g^ fi^^f^ when Maryland ratified the Con- 
Maryiand. stitutiou aud bccamc one of the United States, 
she was one of the most successful and impor- 
tant of the thirteen colonies. 

Can you tell wherein the colonization of 
Maryland differed fi'om that of Virginia ; of 
New York ; of Massachusetts ! 



New England ' 113 

G. NEW ENGLAND 

Most of the early settlers in the colony of 
Massachusetts were happy and contented, and 
were enjoying then- new homes. Yet there were 
some who were dissatisfied with the way affairs 
were managed. 

As yoii know, only clmrcli members were Dissatisfac- 
allowed to have a voice in the government of tioninNew 
the colony, but often those colonists who were ^"^ ^^ ' 
not church members were doing just as much 
toward the building of the colony as those 
who were church members. These dissatisfied 
settlers began to look about them for some de- 
sirable locality to which they might emigrate, 
and where they might manage their own affairs. 

CONNECTICUT 

These discontented colonists of Massachu- 
setts discovered that the valley through which 
the Connecticut Eiver winds was very fertile. 
Thinking that this would be a pleasant place 
to build theu' homes, many of them left the The 
settlements round Massachusetts Bay during ^7^^^^^^°^^^^ 
the years 1635 and 1636, and emigrated to the 
Connecticut Valley. In one or two instances, 
citizens of an entire town moved in a body to 
the Connecticut Eiver, where they began the 
building of another town. 

This was the beginning of the state of Con- 
necticut. 

H 



114 The United States 



NEW HAVEN 



In the year 1638 several ship-loads of settlers 
came to Massachusetts from England. These 
settlers thought that, instead of joining the 
colony of Massachusetts, they should seek 
some place where they could form a separate 
colony. So they set sail again in their little 
ships and finally landed on the banks of the 
Quinnipiack Eiver, and built there a town. 
The which they called New Haven. If you will 

New'^Hav^n. ^00^ at the map you will see that this river is 
not far from the Connecticut. This colony did 
not grow very rapidly at first. Many of the 
settlers who went there to build their homes 
preferred to move over to the Connecticut Val- 
ley, because there they found they would have 
more religious freedom. 



THE TWO SETTLEMENTS UNITED 

The two The settlers in these two new colonies had a 

uniteT^^ ^ great deal of trouble with the Indians and 
also wdth the Dutch, who were pushing up 
from New Amsterdam. They were able to 
overcome the Indians ; and peace was made 
with the Dutch. The little colonies grew and 
prospered. In 1665 they were united, and the 
whole settlement was called Connecticut. 

The colonists in Connecticut received the 
right from the ruler of Great Britain to gov- 



Roger Williams 



115 



ern themselves so long as they made no laws They made 
contrary to the laws of Great Britain. They J^'^'J^'''^^ 
elected their own legislature and their own 
governor. For many years after the Revolu- 
tion, and after Connecticut was a state in the 
Union, the people of Connecticut were gov- 
erned in state matters by the same laws which 
the early settlers had made. For many years 
there were two capitals 
of Connecticut, show- 
ing how at one time 
the state had been two 
little colonies. 



ROGER WILLIAMS 

Among the men of 
Massachusetts who did 
not like the way affairs 
were going on in that 
colony' was Eoger 
Williams , a young 
minister of Salem, one of the wisest and best 
men of his time. 

Roger Williams thought that the government 
should have nothing to do with the church. 
No man, he said, should be compelled to 
go to church, and no man should pay money 
toward the support of a minister unless he 
wished to. The Puritans of Massachusetts con- 
sidered this very bad talk. They were afraid 




Roger Williams. 



116 



The United States 



Roger 
Williams's 
flight to the 
Indians, 



that Roger Williams would cause them trouble, 
so they decided to send him back to Eng- 
land. The young minister heard that he was 
to be sent across the ocean, but as he wished 
to stay here, he managed to escape into the 
forest, where, for many weeks, he lived with 
the Indians. Although he knew how to make 
himself liked by the red men, yet he suffered 
many hardships and often barely escaped 
death. In a short time he was joined by some 
members of his congregation, who preferred 
to be with him rather than to remain in Massa- 
chusetts. He obtained from his Indian friends 
a tract of land on Narragansett Bay, where 
in 163G he started the little town of Providence. 



And the 
founding of 
Providence. 



PROVIDENCE 

Here every man was allowed to think just as 
he pleased, and to speak his thoughts and act 
according to what he thought in religious mat- 
ters. It was not long before many settlers 
came from Massachusetts, where freedom was 
not so great. 

MRS. HUTCHINSON 



Among those who came to settle in the new 
land was Mrs. Hutchinson, who had been driven 
out of Boston because of her belief. Mrs. 
Hutchinson bought of the Indians a little island 
in Narragansett Bay, where she and her follow- 



Rhode Island 117 

ers began a settlement. They called the set- Purchase 
tlement Portsmouth, and the island on which gg^uement 
it was made they called Rhode Island. Not of Rhode 
long after there were several little towns built ^«^^"<'- 
on Rhode Island. 

Near Providence, too, where Roger Williams 
lived, were soon established several settle- 
ments. The people near Providence ruled 
themselves as they wished, and those on Rhode 
Island did the same. The two settlements were 
friendly, however, and in 1644 the two united Rhode 
imder one government, and took the name of proviarnc'l 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. puintations. 



RHODE ISLAND 

At first all the men of Rhode Island met to 
decide matters concerning the colony. Later, 
as their numbers grew larger, each little town 
or settlement sent its representative men to 
form the colony legislature. The people of the 
whole colony elected a governor from among 
their number. 

Every man could go to whatever church he Freedom in 
pleased. But if he did not want to go to f^^^^l 
church, he need not, but could still have a 
voice in the government. 

The legal name of Rhode Island is still Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, but it is 
nearly always spoken of as Rhode Island only. 
There are two capitals of Rhode Island today. 



118 The United States 

It is the only state in the Union which has 
more than one. The legislature meets first at 
one capital and then at the other. 

The people of Rhode Island had more free- 
dom in the affairs of the church and in their 
government than those of any other colony in 
America. This is the reason why they did not 
send any one to the meeting in Philadelphia, 
.of which you read on pp. 43, 44, which was to 
decide how the United States should be gov- 
erned. They were so well satisfied with their 
own government that they were slow to enter 
into a compact (agreement) with the other colo- 
nies. They feared that by doing so their form 
of government might be changed to their dis- 
advantage. But, as you know, Ehode Island 
ratified the Constitution at last, and joined 
with her twelve sister colonies in forming the 
United States of America. 

7. TEE MIDDLE COLONIES 
NEW SWEDEN 

In 1638, while the Dutch were building their 

town of New Amsterdam and extending their 

New Netherlands colony, a little band of Swedes 

came to America. The Swedes are a sturdy 

The race, living in Sweden, on the northwestern 

ofNeT""^ coast of Europe. Without asking permission 

Sweden. of the Dutch, thcsc Swedes settled at the mouth 

of the Delaware Eiver, which was within the 



New Sweden 119 

territory claimed by the Dutch. They bought 
the land of the Indians, and thus placed them- 
selves on friendly terms with the savage natives. 
Their little settlement they called New Sweden, '^^^. 
which was the beginning of the present state ofoTiawfre, 
of Delaware. 

Peter Minuet, who, you remember, had been 
at one time governor of New Amsterdam, was 
now in the service of the Swedes, and was the 
first governor of this new settlement of New 
Sweden. The first Swedish settlers at once 
began to build themselves good homes, and to 
carry on trade with the Indians. 

From the very start the Dutch, who were 
opposed to the coming of the Swedes, tried to 
make them leave by threatening them. The 
Swedes, however, paid no attention to their 
Dutch neighbors, but continued to trade with 
the Indians, and to send the furs they obtained 
to Sweden. For two years the number of set- 
tlers was not increased by fresh arrivals from 
Sweden with supplies, so the second winter was 
one of extreme suffering and hardship. So ^^^ the 
great, indeed, was the privation during this of'the'°^^ 
time that the few Swedes left almost decided to colonists 
abandon their colony and to go to New Am- 
sterdam, or to find a ship which would carry 
them back to Sweden. But in the following 
spring ships came from Sweden with more col- 
onists and fresh supplies. From this time until 
1655 the little colony of New Sweden continued 



120 The United States 

to grow in extent and in population, in spite 
of the opposition of the Dutch. There was no 
more suffering for want of supplies, for ships 
came regularly from Sweden. Some of the new 
settlers began to trade with the Indians, while 
others broke up the soil, in little farms, and 
raised vegetables and corn and other grain. 

DELAWARE A PART OF NEW NETHERLANDS 

In 1655, however, the war- like Peter Stuy- 

vesant, then governor of New Amsterdam, 

attacked the Swedes, and, after conquering 

Subjection them, made the little settlement of New Sweden 

of New ^ ^^,^ ^£ -j^^^ Netherlands, and placed it under 

Sweden to -*■ ' ^ 

Dutch gov- Dutch government. A number of the chief 
ernment. ^^^^^ ^^ ^j-^^ Settlement, iucludiug the governor, 
were sent across the ocean. A few of the 
Swedes went to other colonies, w^iere they built 
new homes. But most of the settlers in New 
Sweden quietly accepted the change in their 
government, and continued to work for the 
good of their settlement on the Delaware. 

DELAWARE A PART OF NEW YORK 

When, in 1664, New Netherlands passed into 
the hands of the English, and became New 
York, the settlements on the Delaware likewise 
came under English rule, as a part of New 
York. Delaware was never a distinct, separate 



New Jersey 121 

colony, except for the first few years, when the 
Swedes first began to settle there. It was after- 
wards a part of New Netherlands, then a part of 
New York, and at last, until the Revolution, as 
you shall soon learn, a part of Pennsylvania, a 
colony of which you shall read later. 

But Delaware had its own legislature while Delaware 
a part of Pennsylvania. The Delaw^are people legislature, 
considered themselves as members of an inde- 
pendent colony, even though the governor of 
Pennsylvania was also the governor of Dela- 
ware. 

NEW JERSEY 

Soon after he became proprietor of New 
York, the Duke of York sold a part of the 
New Netherlands territory to two of his friends. 
The land lay between the Delaware and the 
Hudson Elvers. These men, who had bought 
it for a large sum, began the establishment of 
settlements there, one in the eastern part and 
the other in the western. The settlements Thebegin- 
formed in these parts were the beginnings of nTw Jersey. 
the state of New Jersey. The climate of the 
Jerseys, as the country was called, was very 
fine. In addition to this, the proprietors made 
great promises to any one who should settle 
there. It was not long before the new settle- 
ment was fairly started and flourishing. 

The colony of New Jersey continued to pros- 
per until 1670. Then trouble between the 



122 The United States 

colonists and the proprietors arose about the 
payment of taxes. The quarrel continued until 
1673, when New York, which included New 
Jersey, fell into the hands of the Dutch for a 
year. In 1674, when New York became once 
more, by treaty, the property of England, an 

Trouble in . . tat 

New Jersey, arrogaut, uuwise man named Andros was ap- 
pointed by the English government to be the 
governor of all New England, and New York 
and New Jersey. New York, of course, also 
included Delaware. 

Until 1689, when the English government 
was compelled to take Andros away from 
America, the Jerseys and all of New England 
were badly treated. Many of their rights were 
taken from them. Nevertheless, they all con- 
tinued to grow larger and stronger. From 
1702 until 1738 the colony of New Jersey was 
Which really a part of New York, although it had an 

became a asscmbly of its owu. But iu that year, 1738, 
colony. New Jcrscy became a separate and distinct 
colony. Lewis Morris was appointed the first 
royal governor. 

QUAKEKS 

Among those who came to live in this new 
colony of New Jersey was a sect or class of 
people called Quakers, who could not live in 
peace in the old country. They were also badly 
treated in the colonies of America wherever 
they had tried to establish homes. The Quakers 



William Penn 123 

are a religious people, who are very strict in Character 
their manner of life. They believe that every q^^^^^.^ 
man is the equal of every other man. They 
believe in plain dress and simple language. 
They do not believe in the use of titles. They 
are an honest people, who think that kindness 
to one another is best. War of any kind, even 
defensive, is opposed by them. 

The early Quakers obtained the western half 
of New Jersey in which to live as they wished. 



WILLIAM PENN 

Chief among these good people was William penn's 
Penn. *^"^""-^- 

Penn wished to establish a separate colony 
for his fellow Quakers. In 1681 he obtained 
from the King of England, Charles II, a large 
grant of land extending toward the west, in 
payment of a debt which the king owed him 
through his father, now dead. Here Penn be- 
gan the building of a colony where Quakers 
would not be hindered by quarrels between the 
people of New Jersey and the proprietors. 
This colony afterward developed into the state 
of Pennsylvania. 

William Penn was a very good man, and also 
a very wise one. He had watched the growth 
of other colonies in America, and had formed 
plans in his own mind by which a colony 
should be conducted. When he obtained from 



124 



The United States 



The • 
governor 
and colonial 
assembly, 
with laws 
approved in 
England. 



the king this large grant of land he began at 
once to put his plans into practice. 

He was the proprietor of the colony and was 
to be its governor, or was to appoint some one 
to serve in his place. The colonists chose from 




armllf/fi 



among their number a colonial assembly to 
make laws. These laws had to be sent to 
England to be approved by the king before 
they went into effect. In the colony of Mary- 
land, which was also governed by a proprietor, 



Philadelphia 125 

the laws which the assembly passed did not have 
to be sent to England for the king's approval. 

William Penn encouraged settlers to come to ment^fffrtd 
his colony by offering to sell them land very settlers. 
cheap, and by allowing them to worship as 
they pleased. He also allowed all to have a 
voice in the government. 

Penn treated the Indians so well, giving 
them a fair value for all the land which the 
white settlers took from them, and being honest 
with them in all things, besides giving them 
many presents, that the Indians held the 
Quakers in great respect. The settlers in the 
colony of Pennsylvania were the only colo- 
nists in this country who did not have to fight 
the Indians while they were building their 
homes. 

PHILADELPHIA 

In 1683 Penn began to build the city of The 
Philadelphia. He laid out the city so that the pm^I^^^^ 
streets were straight and regular. He saw to deiphia. 
it that these streets were well paved, and he 
insistea that the houses which the colonists 
built should be neat in appearance. It was 
not long before Philadelphia was one of the 
most important of all the cities in the colonies. 



DELAWARE A PART OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The colony of Pennsylvania was not touched 
by the ocean at any point. It was the only 



126 



The United States 



Delaware a 
part of 
Pennsyl- 
vania, 



The 

prosperity 
of Penn- 
sylvania. 



colony which had no seacoast. Penn, knowing 
that this was a great disadvantage to the peo- 
ple, secured from the Duke of York the right 
to be proprietor of Delaware. You remember 
Delaware was a part of New York because it 
had been conquered by the Dutch, and was 
included in New Netherlands when that colony 
became one of the English colonies, as New 
York. In this way Delaware became a part of 
Pennsylvania instead of remaining under the 
government of New York. This union gave the 
Pennsylvania colonists easy access to the sea. 

Although Delaware was a part of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was ruled by the proprietor of that 
colony, yet at the time of the Eevolution, and 
for many years before, each of these two colo- 
nies had its own legislature. 

Pennsylvania prospered and grew so rapidly 
that in a very short time it became one of the 
strongest of all the colonies. 



8. OTHER COLONIES 
THE EXTKEME NORTHERN COLONIES 



The rpj^^ present states of New Hampshire and 

of^N^w^^ Maine were in the early days a part of Massa- 

Hampshire. chusctts. But iu 1679 a part of the territory 

was formed into a separate colony by the ruler 

of Great Britain. This colony was named 

New Hampshire. 

New York and New Hampshire both claimed 



Extreme Southern Colonies 127 

the country which we now call Vermont, and Vermont 
quarreled about the ownership until 1791,Avhen ^''^ ^^^''''^' 
Vermont was admitted to the Union as a state. 
Maine remained a part of Massachusetts until 
it was admitted as a separate state, long after 
the Revolution, in 1820. 

THE EXTREME SOUTHERN COLONIES 

We have now learned about the establishment 
of ten colonies, reaching from Virginia, on the 
southern bank of the Potomac, to New Hamp- 
shire, far away in the forests of New England. 

The Virginians came to seek precious stones 
and metals. The New England colonists came 
for religious freedom. The Dutch of New 
York came to trade with the Indians. Lord 
Baltimore established Maryland so that perse- 
cuted Catholics could have a home in the New 
World and worship as they wished. The Qua- 
kers established Pennsylvania because they were 
not allowed to live as they wished in any other 
of the colonies of America. 

We know that there were three more colo- The 
nies at the time of the Revolution. Let us andGe"o^gia 
see how these colonies. North Carolina, South 
Carolina and Georgia, were established. 

THE CAROLINAS 

When, in 1649, Charles I, King of England, 
was beheaded, his son Charles did not become 



128 



The United States 



A result of 
the coming 
to the 
throne of 
Charles II. 



king, nor was there any king in England for 
the eleven years following. This, as we have 
learned, was the time of the Commonwealth in 
England (the time of Cromwell and his son). 
In 1660, however, the English people were again 
ruled by a king. Charles, aided by powerful 
friends, was called from his exile and placed 
on the throne as Charles II (1660-1685). 

The king, wishing to reward these friends 
for the help they had given him, gave to 
some of them the land in America between 
Florida and Virginia. This land had been 
called Carolina by a Frenchman many years 
before, in honor of his king, Charles IX, of 
France. The Latin name for Charles is 
Carolus. As the King of England was also 
named Charles, the gentlemen to whom the 
land was given did not change the name. 

The first two settlements in this new terri- 
tory were made far apart, one near Virginia 
and the other far down the coast, where 
Charleston, S. C, now stands. Other set- 
tlements grew around these two, and in time 
there came to be two separate governments 
for the two parts of Carolina. These were 
called North Carolina and South Carolina, 
respectively. 



NORTH CAROLINA 



Some of the early settlers of North Carolina 
were rough, adventurous men from Virginia. 



South Carolina 129 

Life in their colony had, to their taste, become Early 
too tame. Others of the settlers were bond- !!"Ir^°^ 

North 

servants who, seeing, as their time of service Carolina, 
expired, that they were not treated as eqnals 
by the Virginia planters, wished to go else- 
where. Others who pushed through the woods 
into North Carolina were people who were not 
allowed to worship as they pleased in Virginia. 
Most of these settlers were very poor. There 
were no great plantations in North Carolina, 
but instead there came to be many small 
farms, where tobacco was raised. Many of 
the settlers earned their living in the forests 
by cutting lumber, by making tar, or by col- 
lecting turpentine from the trees. 



SOUTH CAROLINA 

The settlers of South Carolina, although much Settlers of 

South 
Carolina. 



like those of North Carolina, lived in a very ^"^^^^ 



different manner. Great plantations of rice and 
indigo were started and great numbers of slaves 
were set at work. Although the settlers were 
troubled by Indians, and moreover had fre- 
quent quarrels with the proprietors, yet new 
settlers continued to come, and the two colonies 
grew in population and wealth. 

In 1729 the proprietors gave up their rights, 
and North and South Carolina became two 
separate royal colonies, with a royal governor 
at the head of each government. 



130 



The United States 



Contests 
with the 
Spanish 



The Spanish in Florida did not hke to see 
the English establishing permanent colonies 
near their own settlements. They tried to 
drive the South Carolina settlers out of the 

country . Although 
the Spanish had the 
help of the wild In- 
dians, who were al- 
ways ready to fight 
the English, they did 
not succeed in their 
endeavor. 




Oglethorpe. 



GEOEGIA 

In 1732 James Ogle- 
thorpe obtained from 
George II,* the King 
of England, a grant 
of land between the 
settlements in South 
Led to the Carolina and Florida, where he hoped to estab- 

settlement . 

of Georgia, hsli colouies which would serve as a protection 
for the South Carolina people against the 
Spanish in Florida. 

At that time, according to English law, peo- 
ple who owed money and did not pay their 
debts could be thrown into x)rison and kept 
there until the money was paid. Oglethor]3e 



* Charles II, 1660-1685; James II, 1685-1688; William and Mary, 1689-1694 ; 
William alone, 1694-1702; Anne, 1702-1714; George I, 1714-1727, wud George 
11,1737-1760. 



Georgia 131 

suggested that such prisouers be allowed to 
go to Georgia to establish homes for them- 
selves. At the same time they would be build- 
iug up the Euglish possessions in America 
and holding the Spanish in check. This plan 
was agreed to by the government in England. 

The soil of Georgia was very rich, so great Products of 
quantities of rice and indigo were easily raised, ^^^^'^la soii. 
Within the bounds of the new colony were 
many forests filled with valuable trees. After 
the colony was once started many settlers who 
were not debtors came to Georgia. 

At different times there was trouble between 
the Spanish in Florida and the Georgians, but 
neither was able to drive the other away. In 
1752 Georgia became a royal colony, with a 
royal governor. 

You now know why some of the people from The thirteen 
far across the ocean wished to establish homes ^^^^^^^^ 

grew each 

in America. You have learned how our thir- year, 
teen colonies were born, and you are acquainted 
with some of the difficulties with which the 
early settlers had to contend. 

We cannot follow the history of each colony 
to see how each one grew in size and strength, 
how each one had its quarrels with its pro- 
prietors, or its royal governors, or directly 
with the King of Great Britain. In each one 
the colonists became more and more dissatis- 
fied with the unjust treatment of the English 
govex'nment, Each year the colonies became 



132 The United States 

And became stroiiger aiid better able to take care of them- 
bettlrlwe ^elvos, and each year the great quarrel between 
to take England and her colonies became fiercer and 

care of j^gg ^^^gy ^^ SCttlc. 

themselves. a i 

As the years passed on the people of one 
colony became better acquamted with the peo- 
ple of the other colonies. All began to think 
of themselves as Americans, with the same 
interests and the same rights. The people of 
one colony consulted the people of other 
colonies on matters of trade with one another 
Friendliness and with the motlicr country. They helped 
Inother^ ouc auothcr in protecting themselves from the 
developed. Indians, and they exchanged messages of sym- 
pathy and good will and encouragement during 
the many quarrels with the government in their 
old home. 

One of the greatest dangers to which the 
colonists in America were exposed was the pres- 
ence of the Indian tribes. Let us now study 
these Indians, that we may know better what 
they were and why they were so dangerous to 
our brave colonists. 

9. INDIANS 

The early Wlieu tlic first wliitc uicu cauic from far 

Indians. across tlic ocean to seek wealth or build new 
homes for themselves, they found a strange 
race with brown skins, living in the forests. 
These men they called Indians. From that 
early time until after the thirteen colonies had 



Indians 



133 



become the United States the settlers were 
never sure of the friendship of the Indians. 

They added greatly to the sufferings and 
dangers to which those who made the begin- 
nings of our country were exposed. Accus- 
tomed to roam at will from valley to valley, opposed to 

through the forests and *^'^ ^^^^°- 

^ _ , of the white 

up and down the streams, 

camping w^ h e r e the y 

Aj^ra^w . pleased, they did not like 

.MMM^imM^.^x « ^^ g^^ ^Y\Q white men 

building towns, cutting 




Indian Canoe. 



down the forests and breaking up the soil 
into farms and plantations. The land that 
was taken by the settlers was sometimes paid 
for. They were then, usually, able to live 
in peace. But more frequently the Indians re- 
ceived nothing for their hunting grounds and 



134 



The United States 



They 
wished to 
possess the 
land. 



camping places, so they were led to do every- 
thing in their power to prevent the white men 
from making permanent settlements. But, as 
we have learned, the Indians were gradually 
driven farther and farther away from the ocean 
into the mountains. The settlers advanced, but 
each foot of ground taken by them was fiercely 



fought for. 



INDIAN TKIBES 



Although all the original inhabitants of this 
continent were called Indians, there were great 
differences among them in various parts of the 
country. There were many separate bands or 
tribes. Many different languages were spoken. 
The customs and habits of the tribes were not 
the same. Each of these tribes, which had for 
its leader a chief or sachem, lived in a certain 
part of the country, and bitterly opposed Indians 
of a different tribe who came into its territory 
to hunt the wild animals of the forest. 

The Indians lived in towns and villages, but 
they did not live on farms or plantations. Since 
they lived chiefly by hunting and fishing, they 
had to move frequently from place to place 
when game became scarce. 



INDIAN HOMES 



A cave in the side of a cliff, a hole in the 
ground, or a few branches placed on end and 
covered with skins, served as a protection from 



Indian Homes 



135 



the rain and heat of summer and rne snow and 
cold of winter. Sometimes houses were made 
with straight sides and slanting roofs, covered 
with the bark of 
trees or the skins 
of animals, more, in 
fact, like the houses 
in which we our- 
selves live. A hole 
in the roof permit- 
ted the smoke of 
the little fire, which 
was built on 
the floor in the 
middle of this 
rude home, to 
escape into the 
air. Some- 
times these 

houses were built large enough to accommodate 
several families, and then there were as many 
fires and as many smoke holes as there were 
families. 

When a tribe decided to move from one valley 
to another their little settlement or village would 
be deserted. When the new camping ground 
was reached, new homes were easily built. 



Indian 
wigwams. 




Indian Wigwam. 



INDIAN WOMEN 



The work of moving and of building new 
homes, and in fact all the work of the Indians, 



136 



The United States 



All the work was doiie by the women, or squaws, as they 
Indians ^^^'® Called. The Indian man, or brave, did 
done by the iiot think it manly to work. When he was 
women. ^-^^^ lazily lounging in the sun or boasting 

with his companions around 
the campfire, he spent his time 
in hunting and fishing, or in 
fighting, while his wife built his 
home, removed the skins from 
the animals which he had killed 
in the hunt, and prepared the 
flesh for eating. She also 
planted and cultivated a little 
corn, a few beans, and perhaps 
a pumpkin or two in the soft 
ground on the banks of the 
stream from which the tribe 
^yi§k,.. got its water for cooking and 
(-«% .w"a#w^' drinking. The amount of food 
thus raised was very small, 
however, for the Indians depended for their food 
almost entirely on the flesh of wild animals and 
on the seeds, berries and roots of plants which 
they found growing in the valleys or on the hill- 
sides. They made a kind of bread by grinding 
in the hollow of a stone the corn which they 
raised. They mixed the meal with water and 
cooked the cake on a flat stone, heated over 
a fire. You see that the processes of preparing 
and serving food among the Indians were much 
more simple and easy than they are with us. 




Indian Woman and Papoose. 



The Indian as a Hunter and Warrior 137 



THE INDIAN AS A HUNTER 

As the Indian brave spent much of his time The Indian 
hmiting and fighting, he became very expert fought. 
with his weapons of the chase and of war. 

He made his bow of tough, springy wood, 
stretching from end to end a strip of deer 
skin for a string. His arrows, too, he made 
from the trees of the forest, each with a bit of 
sharpened stone or flint on one end and with 
feathers at the other end. With the bow 
and arrow the Indian hunter could kill the 
swiftest and largest animals. His knife was 
of stone or of bone, or was perhaps rudely 
fashioned of shell. 

THE INDIAN AS A WARRIOR 

In battle with Indians of other tribes or ^^^_ 
with white men, the bow and arrow became 



a warrior. 



a terrible weapon. Swift and true the arrow 
sped on its deadly mission. In a hand-to- 
hand encounter the Indian fighter used his 
knife with cruel strength and dexterity. 

Another weapon used by the Indians in their 
warfare was the tomahawk. The tomahawk 
was much like the hatchet which we use for 
splitting kindling wood. But instead of iron 
or steel the blade was of stone, fastened to its 
handle with strips of deer skin, or with the 
fine, stout twigs of a tree. 

An Indian could hurl his tomahawk with 



138 



The United States 



Their 
barbarism 




such great force as to kill an enemy at quite 
a distance. He was not satisfied with killing 
his foes. He did not consider that his object 
was accomplished until he had removed a part 
of the scalp, with its covering of hair, 
from his fallen foe. The scalp was often 
I taken before the victim was dead. The 
number of scalps which a warrior had 
hanging at his waist showed how great a 
fighter he was. A young man was 
not held in high esteem until he 
had won at least one scalp, either 
in battle or by 
I treacherously 
murdering 




Imdian Weapons. 
Mohawk Sealping-knife and deer-shank Tomahawk ; 
Dakotah Bow and Quiver, with Bow-sack. 

some settler in his cabin, or surprising him at 
his work in the field. The Indian always tried 
to take as many prisoners as possible so as to 
torture them, which he too often did in a most 
cruel manner. 

THE INDIAN PAPOOSE 



The Indians did not believe in showing their 
feelings either by laughing or by crying. Even 



Indian Papoose 



139 



the little baby strapped to its mother's back — The ufe of 
for that was the Indian baby carriage — seldom p^poo'le!'''' 
cried or laughed. As the mother hoed the 
little field of corn, cooked her husband's meal, 
or built for him a new home, she carried her 
baby strapped to her back. There the little 
fellow slept or looked about him, uncomplain- 
ing and contented, the burning sun shining 
down on his unprotected head, or the biting 
winds of winter playing against his little 
brown cheeks. 

As soon as the boy babies were large enough 
to walk they were taught to use the bow and 
arrow and the tomahawk. They were also 
taken by their fathers into the forests to hunt 
the animals which served them as food. The 
girl babies were not much 
liked by the Indians, and 
Avere liable, because of bad 
treatment or neglect, to die 
while yet in infancy. This 
was better, perhaps, for the 
baby than being allowed to 
live. 

When it became necessary 
for a band of Indians to 
move to some fresh hunting 
ground, the women carried 
on their backs the earthen water jars and cook- 
ing utensils, the skins and perhaps the canoes 
and wigwam poles, with baby perched on top. 




Indian Earthenware. 
From southern Utah. 



140 



The United States 



Indian 
canoes. 



Although the Indians spent so much time 
roaming through the wild forests, they never 
lost their way. They could tell by looking at 
the sun or the stars in what direction they were 
going, and they could tell by marks on trees 
and bushes just how far and in what direction 
they were from their camp. The Indians used 
the streams as roadways on which their little 
canoes glided rapidly. Some of 
these canoes were made of bark ; 
others were made by covering with 
skins the branches of trees bent 
into proper shape. Sometimes they 
would cut down a great tree wdth 
their stone hatchets. Then after 
cutting the trunk into the right 
length and rounding the ends, they 
would burn out the wood until a 
thin, light shell was left. 

THE INDIANS AND THE COLONISTS 



After the white settlers came, the 
Indians began to use guns and 
bullets and knives of steel, but they 
still carried tomahawks with them 
and used them with cruel results. 




An Indian 
Head-Dress. 



The Indians rpj^^ early scttlcrs were never safe from Indian 

colonists. attacks. With terrible yells and with bodies 

hideously painted and decorated with flying 

feathers, they would surround a settler's cabin, 



Indians and the Colonists 141 



kill his family, take their scalps, burn the little The Indian 
home and be away among the trees of the forest ^^^l^^l^ ""^ 
before the neighbors could come to the rescue. 
Sometimes a whole tribe would make an attack 
on a settlement. The men and babies would be 
killed, and the women and older children taken 
away as prisoners to be slaves to the Indians, 
or to be put to death by fire or other torture. 

When the settlers built their towns they usu- Reasons for 
ally placed side by side with the church a ^^^ ^^'^''^' 

, T , . , . . p houses of 

little fort, or blockhouse, to which m time of the settlers. 
attack they could fly and protect their lives. 
But even in the blockhouse they were not 
always safe, for the Indians would fasten burn- 
ing branches to their arrows and thus set fire 
to the dry timbers. Those who had fled to the 
house would then be forced into the open, where 
they would be murdered or taken captive. 

AVhen the farmers went to their work in 
the field in the morning they took with them 
their guns and powder and balls to defend 
themselves in case of an attack. And wdien 
on Sunday the little families went to church, 
the men carried their guns and were constantly 
on the lookout for their foes. 

But in spite of the many lives which the The colonies 
Indians took, and the many homes and settle- ^''*'''' ''' 

' *^ strength. 

ments which they destroyed, together with all 
the other difficulties to which the settlers were 
exposed, the thirteen colonies grew larger and 
stronger. The Indians were gradually driven 



142 



The United States 



farther and farther away from the settlements, 
so that the colonists livmg near the ocean and 
on the large streams were comparatively safe. 

The Indians saw that the white men w^ere 
becoming stronger, and year by year were tak- 
ing more of their hunting grounds. They at 
length began to unite and to try, with the 
united strength of several tribes, to drive the 
white men out of the country. 




Indian Bows. 

1 and 2, Yew, from California; 3, Willow, from Alaska; 4, 5, Cow's 
horns, made by Gros Ventres Indians, Montana. 

War with In 1636 the various tribes called the Pequots 

thePequots. jj^^^q ^ determined attack on the settlers of 
Connecticut. But, by the coming of the set- 
tlers of Massachusetts to the aid of their Con- 
necticut neighbors, the Pequots were almost 
entirely destroyed. This war served to show 
the colonists that in union there is strength, 
and that if they were not to be driven from 
the country by the Indians they must help on^ 
another by uniting their forces, 



The French 143 



10. THE FRENCH 



While the Enghsh were buildmg homes and The French 

attempts at 
colonization. 



establishmg colonies between the mountains and I ^^^ 



the Atlantic Ocean, men from a country in 
Europe called France were making explorations 
beyond the mountains. 

The French were fur- traders, buying furs 
from the Indians and giving them fair value 
for what they bought. The French traders, 
many of whom married Indian women, treated 
the Indians in every way as if they were their 
equals. In this way the French and Indians 
became very friendly, so that the French did 
not have the dangers of Indian warfare to 
contend with, except from a few tribes which 
were always friendly with the English. 

Whenever there was trouble between France The French 
and England in the old country across the ^"^^ ^^^^^^ 

~ 'J wars. 

ocean, the English colonists in America and the 
French fur-traders took up the quarrel. There 
was then war in America. In these wars the 
French had the aid of the Indians. But even 
then the English colonists were always successful, 
although many people were killed, many homes 
burned, and some settlements entirely destroyed. 
The first of these wars began in 1689 and 
lasted until 1697. The last one, which began 
in 1754, was waged until 1763. During all 
that time between these two wars the thirteen 
colonies grew larger and stronger, 



144 The United States 

The colonists learned by these wars that they 
must depend on themselves for help in their 
troubles. Although Grreat Britain sent over 
soldiers to help her colonies, yet these soldiers 
did not know how to fight either the wild Indians 
or the French of America, who had become ac- 
customed to life in the wilds of the new country. 
Moreover, the English colonists of America had 
become, to a certain extent, accustomed to 
governing their own affairs. They had learned 
how strong they were when united against a 
common enemy. 

NEW FRANCE 

You know that bordering the United States 
on the north is a country which belongs to 
Great Britain, called Canada. Many years ago 
Canada belonged to France. Samuel de Cham- 
plain should be remembered as the Father of 
Canada, as John Smith is of Virginia, or Wil- 
liam Penn of Pennsylvania. It was he who 
established the first permanent settlement of 
French people in that country. Robert de La 
Salle is another man whom we should always 
remember with great respect. By his heroic 
efforts the great country beyond the Ap- 
palachian Mountains, from the Great Lakes to 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, was opened 
to white men for settlement. 

The French people did not come to this coun- 
try so much with the intention of establishing 



New France 



145 



new homes for themselves as to secm-e weahh object of 
by tradmi>- with the Indians. Becanse they saw *^^ ^'*^"<^^ 

'^ ~ . "^ settlers. 

the great dangers of living in a wild, nnbroken 
conntry, snrronnded by savages who were not 
friendly, they treated the Indians as they wonld 




KoBERT Chevalier de la Salle. 



have treated a race of white people with whom Their 
they wished to carry on trade. They gave 
them fair values for their furs. They did not 
cheat them in their dealings with them. In 
manv instances French traders married Indian 



treatment of 
the Indians. 



146 The United States 

women. At all times, wherever fm-- traders 
were found, there, in the same company, was 
a French priest, who fearlessly went among 
the Indians, giving them medicine in their ill- 
ness, dressing their wounds after battles, and 
doing what he could to convert them to Chris- 
tianity. The French were rewarded for their 
kindness and honesty by having the Indians as 
their friends. 

THE IROQUOIS 

The There was one tribe of Indians, the Iroquois, 

Iroquois. ^houi tlic Freucli did not treat well. Indians 
never forget a kind or an unkind act. The 
Iroquois, consequently, always hated the French, 
and did what they could to help the English 
in their quarrels with the French. It is im- 
portant to remember this. It is probable that 
had it not been for these friendly savages the 
history of our country would have been very 
different, and that Canada would today be 
owned by France. A war between the United 
States and France would apparently have been 
necessary to determine the ownership of the 
Mississippi Valley. 
The English The English claimed our entire continent 
and French f^.^^^^ ^^^^ Atlautlc to the Pacific bccausc they 
had been the first to establish colonies on 
the Atlantic coast. France claimed the Mis- 
sissippi Valley because La Salle and other 
brave men had explored the great river which 



King William's War 147 

drains the country between the Rocky Moun- 
tams and the Appahichian Mountains. The 
French had estabhshed many trading posts in 
Canada and in the eastern part of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. To these stations the Indians 
brought furs to exchange for trinkets and for 
guns and powder and bullets or other things 
which the French brought from over the ocean. 

As the English settlers began to push farther The 
into the country across the mountains, diffi- ^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

'' ' they gave 

culties arose between the English colonists rise to. 
and the French traders. The French then 
built strong forts near their trading posts, wdiere 
they kept soldiers for their protection. 

The Frenchmen told the Indians that if the 
English were allowed to cross the mountains 
their forests would soon be destroyed and they 
themselves would be driven away or killed. So 
the Indians, urged on by the French, attacked 
the English and made their lives hard and 
dangerous. 



The French were not satisfied with having The French 
Canada and the Mississippi Valley. They ^""^^pJ 

-^ -*- -^ '' upon New 

wished to have a seaport on the Atlantic Nether- 
Ocean nearer the center of the country, where ^^"^^^^ 
their ships could luring* them provisions and in 
turn receive the furs which they had bought. 
They attempted to take New Nethe'rlands, 
through which the Hudson River flowed, away 



148 The United States 

from the Dutch. A good opportunity for 
doing this, it was thought, came to them in 
1689. 

The ruler of France was King Louis XIY, 
in whose honor the whole of the Mississippi 
Valley had been called Louisiana. This king 
was so powerful in France, and his great 
armies were so strong and well trained, that 
the other governments of Europe were becom- 
ing much afraid of him. They thought that 
he might send his armies to conquer the 
countries which did not belong to France. 
English For this reason, several of the powerful nations 
unued''^^^ of Europe united against him, and a great war 
against the followcd. King William, of Great Britain, who 
French. ^iSid bccu the govcmor of Holland for several 
years before he became King of England, was 
one of the chief opponents of the French 
king. When war was announced in the old 
country the French in America wished to help 
their mother country, and, at the same time, 
to better their own condition, so they sent an 
expedition against New Netherlands in order 
that they might have New Amsterdam and the 
Hudson Eiver as their own. Holland and 
England were opposed to France across the 
ocean, and it followed that the Dutch and 
English were opposed to the French in 
America. 

The "French were unsuccessful in this at- 
tempt, in spite of the fact that they were 



Queen Anne's War 149 

helped by the Indians. Then* red friends 
caused a great deal of suffering to the Dutch 
and English settlers in the outlying districts 
of New England and New Netherlands. 

The date 1689 is quite an important one in The lesson 
the history of the American colonies, because «f*^e^^^- 
it was then that the colonists first began to 
realize their strength. At this time they 
learned that if they did not wish to lose all 
the benefits for which they had suffered, they 
must help one another against the Indians 
and the French. King William's War, as it 
was called in America, lasted until 1697. 

QUEEN ANNE's WAR 

King William's War was soon follow^ed by stm another 
another called Queen Anne's, for Anne (1702- ^-^r which 

Vjofl it's 

1714) became ruler of Great Britain after King origin in 
William's death. This war, like the former, Europe. 
had its origin in the old country. France and 
Spain were on one side, with England and other 
countries opposed to them. The English in the 
thirteen colonies and the French and Spanish 
in America were soon at war with one another. 
And again the English colonists suffered a great 
deal from the cruelties of the Indians. 

Peace was finally made between England and 
France, and for nearly thirty years the Eng- 
lish colonists were not troubled by any united 
attacks of the French and Indians. 



150 



The United States 



King 

George's 

War. 



KING GEORGE'S WAR 

In 1744 another war broke out between 
France and England, and, as before, the colo- 
nists of each of these two countries did what 
they could to help the mother countries at 
home by fighting here in America. 

This war is known as King George's War, for 
George II was then King of England, being the 
second ruler after Queen Anne.* 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 



Overthrow 
of the 
French 
in America. 



The three wars named above came about 
because of trouble between the mother coun- 
tries across the ocean. In 1754 another war, 
called the French and Indian War, began, 
which lasted nine years. The French and 
Indian War w^as brought about by the French 
and English in America without any reference 
to what w^as going on across the ocean. The 
English colonists saw that if they wished to 
settle in the Mississippi Valley they must drive 
the French away. The French, for their part, 
realized that if they wished to hold their trade 
with the Indians they must prevent the English 
from crossing the mountains and establishing 
homes on the western side. 

It was during this war that George Washing- 



*George I (1714-1727) -George II (1727-1760). 



French and Indian War 151 

ton first became known throughout the colonies. During this 
He was sent by the ^rovernor of yh'2:inia across ^y ^^^^g^ 
the mountains to attempt to settle matters with entered 
the French. And, although he was unsuccess- p"^^^^ ^^^®- 
ful, yet he showed great bravery and a great 
deal of wisdom and common sense. When 
Great Britain saw that her colonies were wag- 
ing a real war against the Frenchmen in 
America, she declared war against France, and 
sent soldiers to help her colonies fight. France 
did likewise toward her colonies. For seven 
years, the English armies helped, the colonists 
to fight the French armies and the French 
traders until, finally, the French in America 
were beaten. The war continued two years 
longer between the mother countries in Europe 
before the French gave up. As a result of the 
war, Canada and Louisiana became a part of 
the territory belonging to England. 

George Washington did much gallant service 
during this war against the French and Indians. 
He proved his great ability as a leader of men, 
and established his reputation throughout the 
country as a careful, wise and fearless officer. 

The Iroquois were the staunch friends of the Aid of the 
English during this long war. For the aid i^o<i"«i«» 
which they gave the colonists we should 
always remember them with thankfulness and 
gratitude, in spite of the fact that at other 
times the English suffered somewhat at the 
hands of these Indians. 



152 



The United States 



During the French and Indian War the col- 
onists learned how strong they had become, 
and they saw that they were able to fight just 
as well if not better than the trained soldiers 
from England. They had become accustomed 
in some degree to a union among themselves, 
and the feeling grew that they should be united 
for the good of all. But it had not occurred 
to them yet to separate themselves from Grreat 
Britain and govern themselves. 

11. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 



TAXATION 

As this last war had been very expensive, 
Great Britain needed money badly with which 
to pay the cost. It was but just that this 
money should be supplied by the colonies. The 
government in England therefore determined 
to levy certain taxes by which the necessary 
funds should be raised. The colonists were 
not consulted about what taxes should be lev- 
ied. Nor did they have a voice in determining 
how much money should be thus provided. 
The king demanded that what he decreed 
should be blindly obeyed without comment or 
question. 

You should now learn, and always remember, 
that the English people, that is, the people in 
England, were on the side of the colonies in 
their trouble with the rulers of Great Britain, 



Causes of the Revolution 153 

and tried in every way to prevent the king The people 
from treating the colonists so badly. The ^^ England 

'^^ -^ on the side 

English people were themselves very badly of the 
treated by the king and his followers, and so '^^^^^^^s- 
they could do nothing for their friends and 
relatives across the ocean in America. But we 
must not forget that at heart the great mass 
of the English people were our friends. If 
they could have had their way we should 
probably today be subjects of Queen Victoria, 
who has, since 1837, been the much -loved ruler 
of the little islands on the other side of the 
great Atlantic. 

Now, when the King of England, George III colonists 
(1760-1820), wanted money with which to pay '^^^l^''^^ 
the debt of the French and Indian War, he right that 
tried to tax the colonies. It is true that the t^ey shonid 

. be taxed 

king intended to spend most, if not all, of without 
this money for the good of the colonies in *^^^^ 
America. And it is also true that the war for 
which England had spent so much money had 
greatly benefited the thirteen colonies. Still, 
the people of the colonies did not think it was 
right that they should be taxed without their 
consent. From the very beginning of the set- 
tlement of America by Englishmen they had 
been compelled to take care of themselves to 
a large extent. They had built themselves 
towns and cities. They had cut down the for- 
ests and broken up the soil into fine farms and 
plantations. They had fought the French and 



154 



The United States 



There had 
been grow- 
ing a spirit 
of indepen- 
dence. 



the wild Indians. And they had in every way 
taken care of themselves. All this time there 
had been constant trouble between the colonies 
and the rulers of Great Britain, or the gover- 




KrsTG George the Third. 
From an English print of 1820. 

nors whom the rulers sent to the colonies to 
take charge of affairs. The colonists had been 
governing themselves more and more each 
year. And now, that they had done so much 
to establish themselves firmly in America, they 



The Import Duty 155 

did not wish to be taxed without their consent, 
especially as they had akeady taxed themselves 
heavily to help pay for the war. 

THE IMPOKT DUTY 

The English government determined that the The import 
colonists should pay England a little extra ^'^^^' 
money for the things brought from England, 
which they purchased. Money thus paid is 
called an import duty. This is not very hard 
to understand, for we pay import duties today. 
But this import duty goes to our government, 
and is one of the means by which our govern- 
ment is supported. 

The little town gets its support from the resi- ^"'^^^ 
dents of that town by direct taxation. That is, 
the men who manage the affairs of the little 
town, and who are chosen at certain times by 
all the people living in that town, decide how 
much money is needed. They must keep the 
roads in repair or build new ones. They must 
build school houses, and pay the salaries of 
teachers. They must provide engines to be 
used in case of fire. There must be a jail for 
evil doers, and an officer or officers to arrest 
the offenders, and other men to take care of 
them in jail. For all these things, and for uses of 
whatever else the town or city needs for the *^^*^^- 
welfare and happiness of its citizens, money is 
necessary, and each citizen is supposed to pay 



156 The United States 

his share. This share is that man's tax. This 
is a direct tax. 

In the same way people living in each connty 
are taxed for the support of the roads of the 
connty, the connty poorhonse, or the bnilding 
of a bridge over some stream. This is the 
direct connty tax. 

So, too, the people of every state are taxed 
a certain amonnt, sometimes more and some- 
times less. This money is spent so as to make 
their state a more desiral^le and pleasant place 
in which to live. Yon see the town, the city, 
the connty and the state are supported by direct 
taxes, imposed on their citizens. 

A man owning land is taxed on that land. 
His house and barn are taxed. His cattle, 
too, and his sheep and horses are taxed. He 
is taxed a certain amount for the support of 
schools and for the making and mending of 
roads, and for other things. 

The government of the United States, how- 
ever, does not tax the people in this way except 
in case of urgent need, when it is absolutely 
necessary to have a great deal of money at 
once, as in case of war. The government, 
however, spends a great deal of money every 
day. It must get this money from the people. 
It therefore imposes taxes on them in an 
indirect way. 

When some kinds of goods or valuables 
are brought from ' a foreign country to this 



The Import Duty 157 

country to be sold here, the merchants who 
buy them have to pay the government a cer- 
tain amount for the privilege of selling them 
here. The merchant, however, does not lose 
the money which he has paid to the govern- 
ment. He raises the price of the goods, selling The need 
them to his customers for a little more than Jn^irecT'' 
they would have had to pay for them across taxation, 
the ocean where they were made or raised. He 
adds the tax which he paid to the government 
to the price of his goods < Indirectly, therefore, 
the people who buy from him pay the tax. 
The tax paid by the merchant to the govern- 
ment is called duty. 

People who make cigars and cigarettes pay 
the government a tax for the right to make 
them. The makers then charge a little more 
to the cigar store men who buy their goods, so 
that the makers will lose no money by the 
payment of the tax. The store keepers have 
also to pay the government money to sell these 
cigars and cigarettes. But they charge their 
customers a little more for each cigar or box 
of cigarettes than they would have done had 
there been no tax to pay. The same is true 
of the makers of whisky and the saloon keep- 
ers. It is true also of the makers and sellers 
of many other things. You see, then, why this 
is called an indirect tax. The merchant pays 
the government a tax for the privilege of im- 
porting goods. But he charges more for the 



158 The United States 

goods in consequence. It is really the people 

who buy the goods from him who pay the tax. 

The men who smoke the cigars and cigarettes 

are the ones who pay the tax, although they 

pay it indirectly. This last kind of tax is an 

internal revenue tax. 

The men rj^^^Q eitizeus of the town elect the men who 

mine the tax determine how much taxes they are to pay each 

chosen by year. Thc residents of each county elect the 

t epeope. ^gj^^ers for that county. The people living in 

a state are the ones who choose from among 

their number the state officers. The officers 

of the government of the United States are 

selected from the people by the people. They 

represent the people; therefore, the people tax 

themselves, whether directly or indirectly. 

Now, the colonists had their House of Bur- 
gesses, their General Court, their Assembly, as 
This custom the case might be. These representative bodies 
prevailed ^^ ^^^ taxod the colouy which elected them. 

also m *^ 

colonial The officers of the boroughs, of the towns and 
times. ^^ ^YiQ counties were, to a great extent, elected 

by the colonists themselves. The taxes which 
they imposed were thus imposed by the colo- 
nists themselves. 
But no But no colony in America had a representa- 

coionyhada ^-^^ -^^ ^^^ British Parliament. The king did 

representa- ^ 

tive in not call on his colonies to send men to help 

Parliament, j^-^^^ dccidc mattcrs wMch affected the colonies. 

The colonists knew they were not being treated 

right when the government of Great Britain 



The Import Duty 159 

wished to tax, without their consent, the goods Great, 
they had to import from England. They deter- ^.[^J^J^^o 
mined not to pay an import duty, even if it levy import 
was hard to do without the things which they "^"^l!^^ ^ ^, 

'^ -^ without the 

could get only from England. England would consent of 
not allow ships of other countries to come to ^^^ 
the colonies with goods for their use. She 
would not allow the colonists to make things 
themselves. Moreover, she would not allow 
the colonists to buy the things which England 
sent in her own ships unless they paid her an 
import duty. So, you see, the colonists were 
in trouble. They knew they were right, so 
they determined to get along without the im- 
ported goods rather than be imposed on. 

We pay import duties, but the money thus 
paid belongs to us after we have paid it. It 
goes to our own government, and government 
officers are but a body of men whom we have 
selected to do our work for us. The colonists The 
would not pay import duties because the money ^'^^^^msts 

•11111 T woukl not 

thus paid would not belong to them. It would pay import 
go to the English government, in which they duties, 
had no voice or representation. Whether the 
money thus collected was to be spent in 
America, in England, or in the moon, made 
no difference. They would not pay a tax in 
the levying of which they had no voice. 

In spite of the watchfulness of the king's 
officers, the cargoes of many ships were smug- 
gled ashore. 



160 The United States 



WKITS OF ASSISTANCE 

The king's rjTY^Q ]^ini>; sooii fouiid oiit that s.nuggiing was 

searched for camecl Oil, SO liG issiied WHts of Assistance. 

smuggled These Writs of Assistance were pax)ers which 

goods. gave the king's officers power to go into any 

man's house to look for smuggled goods. 

This action on the part of the king greatly 

enraged the people of the thirteen colonies, 

who opposed the officers bitterly when they 

attempted to use their Writs of Assistance. 



THE STAMP ACT 

The act to Auotlicr act of the British government which 
for^xpeTsTs the colonists regarded as most unjust was the 
in the passage by Parliament of the Stamp Act. 

Money was needed to pay the judges and other 
officers whom the king sent to the colonies to 
carry out his orders. The king also decided 
that it was necessary to send English soldiers 
to the colonies, although the colonists had 
proved in the French and Indian wars that 
they were perfectly able to take care of them- 
selves. The Stamp Act was passed so that the 
king could get money for these purposes. By 
this act marriage licenses, deeds by which land 
was transferred from one person to another, 
and all legal papers, and even newspapers, 
were to bear this stamp before they could be 
issued. 



Duty on Tea 161 

Lawyers agreed that they would consider all The 
papers legal, even though they did not bear "^^^^^fj^*^ 

-■■-'■ o 7 o ^ would pay 

the royal stamp. Young people determined no such tax. 
not to marry if they could not get a license 
without a stamp attached to it. Many people 
in all the colonies refused to use the stamps 
for any purpose. 

Many boxes containing the hated stamps 
were burned. Officers who tried to enforce the 
act were harshly treated and so frightened that 
they ceased their efforts to make the people 
use the stamps. When the English government 
discovered that it could raise no money by the 
Stamp Act, the law was repealed. But George 
III took pains to say at the same time that 
even though this act was repealed he had the 
right to tax the colonists as he pleased. The 
colonists did not care what the king said ; it 
was what he did that affected them. 



DUTY ON TEA 

The king now attempted to enforce the duties The king 
on imported goods. The colonists were, how- ^J^J^gJ'''' 
ever, so determined not to be taxed, that he 
was compelled to allow everything to come 
into the colonies without a tax, except tea. 
On that article he said the colonists must pay. 
The English people and many of the best men 
in Parliament spoke fearlessly in favor of the 
colonists, telling the king that he was unwise 



162 



The United States 



of the 
colonists 



and unjust in his attitude. But George III 
was obstinate. He insisted that the colonists 
should pay the tax on tea at least. If the 
colonists had done this the king would have 
gained his j^oint. They would then have been 
paying a tax levied on them without their 
voice and without their consent. Many ship- 
loads of tea were sent to the various ports, 
but the people refused to buy the tea. They 
The preferred to go without their favorite drink 

resentment rather thau to pay a tax imposed without their 
consent. Many ships, with their cargoes of 
tea, were compelled to return to England. In 
other places the chests of tea were brought 
on shore and stored in damp cellars and store- 
houses, where the tea soon spoiled. 

The people of Boston, however, took more 
vigorous methods, to show the king that they 
would not be imposed on. After trying in 
vain to have the tea ships sail away, and 
realizing that unless they took more decisive 
action the tea would be landed, a band of 
Boston citizens disguised as Indians boarded 
the tea ships in the harbor and without noise 
or disorder broke open the chests and poured 
the tea into the water. They then went quietly 
to their homes. 

This act so enraged the king that he ordered 
the port of Boston closed. This means that 
no ships were allowed to sail into or out of 
Boston harbor. The king hoped to show the 



The port of 

Boston 

closed. 



Duty on Tea 



163 



colonists that he would be obeyed, whether they 
liked his actions or not. The wharfs of Boston 
were soon covered with grass. The streets suffering 
were filled with idle men, so that everywhere ^'^''''^ ^^^ 

people. 

throughout the city among the people there 
was srreat sufferins: from lack of food. But 




^^^^^^^ 



Boston in the Time op the Revolution. 
From the "Royal American Magazine," 1774. 

the neighboring towns of Massachusetts, and 
the towns in other colonies, came to the assist- 
ance of their sister city, sending to Boston 
provisions and money and also letters of cheer 
and encouragement. 

By this time the colonies had begun to rely 
a great deal on one another. Committees of 
correspondence had been organized in the dif- 



164 The United States 

Tte ^ ferent colonies and promises of help exchanged, 
stand'for Each colonj tried to enconrage all the other 
their rights, colonics boldly to stand for their rights. 



12. THE BE VOLUTION 

The First jn September, 1774, the First Continental 

cZgreT' Congress met at Philadelphia. Many of the 
and the colonies Sent some of their best men to repre- 

Declaration 
of Rights. 



Congress. 



sent them at this Congress. These men issued 
a Declaration of Rights, in which they begged 
the king to treat the people of the colonies 
better. They told him they loved Eng- 
land, and they honored him as their king. 
They said that they were loyal British sub- 
jects, and that all they wanted was fair and 
just treatment. 
A Provincial Tlic pcoplc of Massachusctts organized a 
Provincial Congress, which began to prepare 
an armed force and to collect guns and ammu- 
nition. Many of the patriotic men of New 
England, both old and young, were now 
spending the time they had free from work 
in learning to march, to handle guns as 
soldiers should, and to be quick to obey the 
word of command. These were called minute 
men because they were prepared to march at 
a minute's notice. Old guns were taken 
down from the chimneys, or from the garrets 
where they had lain forgotten since the trouble 
with the French and Indians. Pieces of lead 



The Revolution 



165 



were collected from all out-of-the-way places P^epara- 
aiid melted and moulded into balls. All the ^.^r! 
spare money of the farmers was spent for a 
fresh supply of powder. The roll of the drum 
and the sharp commands of officers, fresh from 
a day's work in the field or behmd the coun- 
ter of a store, were heard on all 
sides during the evening hours. 
The women encouraged the men 
to prepare themselves well for the 
trouble which it was believed was 
not far distant. Every one was 
anxious. Every one was brave. 
All were willing to give up home, 
family, life, everything except the 
liberty which they had learned to 
know and cherish during colonial 
life on the American shore — every 
one except the Tories. The 
Tories were colonists who were 
friendly to England in the quarrel 
between the mother country and 
her colonies. Of these Tories there 
were many. They caused much 
annoyance to the patriots, and were often a 
source of danger to their cause. But by far the 
greater number of colonists were patriotic Ameri- 
cans, standing on the side of right and justice. 
The Continental Congress at Philadelphia 
sent hearty words of encouragement to the 
Provincial Conerress at Boston. 




The Minute Man. 

After the original in bronze 

by Daniel C. French. 



166 



The United States 



THE FIRST BLOODSHED 



General 
r; age's 
attempt to 
capture 
supplies. 



The battle 
Lexington 
April 19, 
1775. 



When General Gage, the commander of the 
British soldiers in Boston, saw the prepara- 
tions for war which were going on aronnd 
him, he decided to capture the guns and 
ammunition of the Massachusetts colony. To 
accomplish this he sent a body of men to 
Concord, where many munitions of war were 
stored. He tried to do this secretly, but his 
movements had been watched. By the time 
his soldiers had started, a brave man, Paul 
Revere, was riding on his good horse along 
the road between Boston and Concord, calling 
the minute men to wake and oppose the 
king's soldiers. When, therefore, the British 
soldiers advanced along the Concord road they 
were fired at from behind fences and barns, 
so that although they succeeded in destroying 
the storehouse at Concord, many of them were 
killed. Those who escaped were very glad to 
get back into Boston again. 
*^^ This first bloodshed between the troops of 
England and the minute men of her colonies 
is called the Battle of Lexington. It was in 
the town of that name on the Concord road 
that the first shot of the Revolution was fired 
on that morning of April 19, 1775. This date 
should be remembered by us all. 

The people of New England were greatly 
excited when the news of this battle reached 



The First Bloodshed 167 

them. Within tliree days a force of 16,000 
colonial minute men surrounded Boston and 
the British troops quartered there 

On the 10th of May the Second Continental Second 
Congress met in Philadelphia and decided to congress. 
organize a Continental army to oppose the 
English. George Washington, well known 
because of his bravery and wisdom in the 
French and Indian War, and because of his 
sensible and patriotic conduct in the Virginia 
House of Burgesses, was called to be its com- 
mander. 

The Revolutionary War was now begun in 
earnest, although at this time the colonists had 
no idea of attempting to free themselves from 
British rule. The same Congress that made 
these war- like preparations sent a letter to the 
king, telling him of their loyalty and begging 
him to treat them with fairness and honesty. 

The king paid no attention to this appeal. 
On the contrary, he sent over more soldiers, 
and even hired soldiers of other countries to 
fight for him. The men assembled at Phila- 
delphia in the Second Continental Congress 
issued on the 4th of July, 3776, as you 
already know, the Declaration of Independence. 

The Battle of Lexington was fought on the Washington 
19th of April, 1775, the Second Continental general. 
Congress met in Philadelphia in May, 1775, 
and George Washington took charge of the 
Continental army on the 3d of July, 1775, 



168 



The United States 



at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was not 
until October 19, 1781, however, that the 
British general. Lord Cornwallis, finally sur- 
rendered his army to George Washington, and 
the long, bravely fought war of the Revolution 
was brouerht to a close. 



His undis 

ciplineO 

troops. 



Lord Howe 
sailed from 
BostoB. 



IN THE NORTH 

When Washington took charge of the sol- 
diers who had assembled near Boston, he 
found them undisciplined, armed only with such 
guns as they had themselves been able to pro- 
cure, and dressed for the most part in their 
every- day clothing. He at once began to train 
the men, teaching them to rely on their offi- 
cers and to obey them in every way. He also 
did what he could to have his soldiers sup- 
plied with better guns and more suitable 
clothing. While thus preparing his army for 
the coming war, he carefully watched the 
British soldiers quartered in Boston. 

In the spring of 1776, Lord Howe, who had 
come from England to take General Gage's 
place at the head of the British troops, be- 
coming alarmed at the increasing strength of 
the colonial army, placed his troops on board 
the English men-of-war in the harbor and 
sailed away. 

Boston was now occupied by American sol- 
diers, so the citizens were no longer harassed 
by the enemy. 



In the North 



169 




General Washington and His Soldiers. 

During the time the American soldiers held 
the British army in Boston much progress had 
been made by Washington in the organization of Washing- 
his forces. Our soldiers had now had experience j^^ of thT 
in camp life, in watching a besieged army and American 
in actual warfare against the soldiers of Eng- 
land. This training was of great value to them. 



170 The United States 

It was believed that after the British left 
Boston they would attack New York and at- 
tempt to gain control of the Hudson Eiver. 
It was of the utmost importance that they 
be prevented from accomplishing this, for 
since the British had many powerful ships 
with which they could prevent the transfer 
of American troops from port to port by way 
of the sea, the colonists depended in great 
measure on the Hudson River for the moving 
of troops from New England to the middle 
colonies. 
Washington Washiugtou quickly moved his army from 
moved his Boston to Ncw York. He prepared to defend 

army to 

New York, the city against the approachmg English, but 
the British soldiers proved too strong for his 
little army. New York and its harbor fell 
into the hands of General Howe. 

After several severe engagements near New 
York, the British attempted to march across 
New Jersey to capture Philadelphia. Wash- 
ington prevented this by engaging them in 
several battles. The British then succeeded 
in reaching Philadelphia by sailing down the 
coast from New York and up Chesapeake 
Bay and then marching overland to that city. 
The opposition of Washington's army was so 
stubborn that the English accomplished little, 
and suffered at the same time heavy losses. 
The English army was soon taken to New 
York again, closely followed by General Wash- 



The British 



In the South 171 

iiigton. An attempt on the part of the Eng- The attempt 
lish, directed by General Burgoyne, to conquer ^ewYorr 
the state of New York by leading an army from 
from Canada, failed utterly, resulting in the c-'^"^^^- 
capture of a large force of British soldiers. 



IN THE SOUTH 

In 1779, after several years of severe fight- 
ing, which resulted in great loss, both to the 
English and to the Americans, the English 
gave up their attempt to obtain control of New 
York and the other central states. They 
advanced against the South, where they hoped the south, 
soon to be victorious. 

The English first took possession of Georgia 
and reinstated the royal governor there, after 
which they defeated the Americans in South 
Carolina. It appeared as if they were to suc- 
ceed in all the southern states. At the end of 
the year 1780, however, a new army for the 
South was organized by the Americans and 
placed in command of the brave General 
Greene. But General Greene was himself 
under George Washington, for General Wash- 
ington was the Commander-in-Chief of all the 
armies of the United States. 

The American soldiers were now more 
successful. In the spring of 1781, Lord 
Cornwallis, who was then the British general, 
withdrew his army from North Carolina into 



172 



The United States 



The French 
aid. 



Lord 

Coriiwallis's 

surrender. 



Virginia. Cornwallis took his stand in York- 
town, Virginia. 

A large fleet from France was on its Wciy 
to aid the United States. Learning of this, 
Washington led his army from the North, 
where he had been battling with the English, 
doing w^hat he could to prevent their destruc- 
tion of the northern cities, and, by uniting his 
forces with those of General Greene, surrounded 
the British army under Lord Cornwallis in 
Yorktown. The French fleet which had ar- 
rived, prevented the escape of the British 
army by water. 

At Yorktown on the 19th of October, 1781, 
after a long siege, and after several vain at- 
tempts to escape, Lord Cornwallis surrendered 
the English army to George Washington. 



GENERAL MARION 



General 
Marion, 
"The Fox," 
and his men. 



When the British government decided to try 
to conquer the colonies by attacking them in 
the South, instead of devoting all their ener- 
gies to the North, the prospects w^ere very dark 
for the Americans. The English were success- 
ful in Georgia and the Carolinas, but, even 
while successful, they were greatly annoyed by 
the frequent attacks of a band led by General 
Francis Marion. 

Marion and his men, and their brave deeds 
for their country, are of great interest in eon- 



General Marion 



173 



nection with the study of the American Revo- 
lution. Mounted on swift and trusted horses, 
living in the woods like frontiersmen, Marion's 




By permission of 
George Putnam's Sons 



band was a constant menace to the British a constant 
troops. These sly followers of "The Fox," as to the*" 
General Marion was called, could not easily be British 
captured. At unexpected moments, and at un- ^'^^^^ 



174 The United States 

expected places, they would rush on the well- 
uniformed, strictly disciplined and well -sea- 
soned British troops. After hindering the 
progress of the hostile army, killing many of 
their soldiers, and freeing American prisoners, 
they would turn their horses and be back 
among the protecting trees almost before the 
English had recovered from their surprise. 
Marion and his men also proved during the 
war that they were brave soldiers in open war- 
fare. More than once they met the English 
in regular battle. 

General Marion and his men had fought 

the Indians before the Ee volution. They knew 

well the sly tricks of the Indians which the 

The poverty Britisli could ucvcr understand or successfully 

ofthe^sT^"^^ cope with. The general and his men had no 

Americans, tcuts, oftCU UOt CVCU blaukcts iu whicll tO 

sleep. The bare ground was their bed, the 
trees and sky their shelter. The berries and 
• roots of the woods were their food. Ready to 
move at a moment's notice, whether during the 
day or in the middle of the night, the English 
could not surprise or capture them. 

Many interesting stories are told of the 
sacrifices, the narrow escapes and the suc- 
cesses of Marion's men. One will be enough 
to show you how they were regarded by the 
British. An English officer, being captured by 
General Marion, was invited to dine with him. 
The Englishman was surprised to find that 



Marquis Lafayette 175 

the only thing the general and his men had 
for dinner that day was a batch of potatoes, 
baked in the embers of a camp fire and served 
on pieces of bark. The dainty officer in his 
gaudy uniform was hardly prepared for such a 
feast; but the simple politeness and open hos- 
pitality which Marion showed to his captured 
enemy did more than a sumptuous repast could 
possibly have done. When the British officer ^ British 
regained his liberty he resigned his commission opinion of 
and returned to England, saying that there Jib^ert}^^^ 
was no use fighting such men. The trained 
armies of England could not hope to be suc- 
cessful against men who were willing to lead 
such lives, suffer such hardships and brave 
such dangers, for the sake of liberty. General 
Marion and his band of patriots did much 
to secure the freedom of the colonies. 

General Marion was born in the same year 
with Washington, 1732, in South Carolina. He 
died in 1795. 

MARQUIS LAFAYETTE 

We owe a great deal to the help which the 
French gave us during our struggle for inde- 
pendence. The French had been for years the 
enemies of the English, so they were glad to 
unite with those at war with England. After 
the Continental Congress had issued the 
Declaration of Independence France was the 
first nation to acknowledge the right of the 



176 



The United States 



Tbe colonies to freedom. And after France had 

Z%T2lZ acknowledged this right, she treated the United 

States as an independent nation, even before 




By permission of 
George Putnam's Sons 



From a French print, 1781. 



the United States had succeeded in* winning 
freedom and while they were still called the 
rebellious colonies of England. 



Benjamin Franklin 177 

In the early part of the Revolution a brave 
young Frenchman, the Marquis Lafayette, be- 
coming impatient with his country for not 
sending aid to the United States, fitted out a 
ship witli men and arms at his own expense, The zeai of 
which he placed at the disposal of the colo- ^''^^J'^"®- 
nists. Lafayette, who was with Washington 
much of the time during the war, rendered 
valuable assistance to the colonial army. We 
should not forget to honor this noble French- 
man. 

BENJAMIN FKANKLIN 

For some years before the Revolution several 
of the colonies had employed a man by the 
name of Benjamin Franklin to go to England, 
to do what he could to help the colonies by 
pressing their claims before the English gov- ^ foremost 
ernment. As he was one of the foremost patriot, 
patriots of our young country, and as he did 
a great deal to secure the help of the French 
nation during our Revolution, let us learn a 
little about him. 

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 
the year 1706, his parents having come to this 
country some time before, from England. He 
could not, he tells us in his autobiography, 
remember the time when he could not read. 
His greatest pleasure, even when a young boy, 
was to secure a book and master the lines 
contained in it. 



178 The United States 

His work While still very young, Franklin worked with 

his brother in a printing office, in Boston, and 
soon began to write for his brother's paper. 
This was the second newspaper ever published 
in the United States. 

Franklin's brother, being jealous of the 
younger man's ability to write so well, made 
life very uncomfortable for him, which caused 
Benjamin, when seventeen years old, to leave 
home. He went to Philadelphia, w^hicli city 
from this time until his death he considered 
his home. 

Soon after his arrival in Philadelphia he 
found employment in a printing office, where, 
because of his great ability, he soon came to 
be regarded as the foremost man in the office. 
His^ He spent all his spare moments in study, 

mastering, among other things, the German 
and French languages. He also gained a fair 
knowledge of several other tongues. 

Later, after spending some time in Europe, 
where he worked in a printing office, Franklin 
returned to Philadelphia, where he opened a 
printing office of his own. When he grew 
older he was elected to the Assembly of 
Pennsylvania, where his influence did much 
to increase the prosperity of the colony. He 
wrote and printed many pamphlets, which 
contained words of much wisdom. They are 
still read today. He published an almanac 
called " Poor Richard's Almanac," for which 



studies. 



Benjamin Franklin 179 

he had collected so many wise and sharp 
sayings that, next to the Bible, "Poor Rich- Poor 
ard's Almanac" was the best known publica- ^J^rnac! 
tion in all the colonies. 

Franklin was not only a printer and anthor; 
he was also the man who discovered that 
lightning is electricity. This discovery was of 
such importance to the world that it caused 
the name of Franklin to be known and 
honored throughout America, and in the coun- 
tries of Europe as well. He had long won- 
dered of what lightning consisted. So one Frankim 
stormy night he went into a field, where he ng^7^tgt* 
sent up into the clouds a large kite which electricity. 
he had made. At the end of his kite string 
was a key. Pretty soon a flash of lightning 
brightened the darkness, and a little spark, 
just such a spark as is seen on an electric 
motor, was seen at the end of his key. 
Franklin then was sure that lightning was 
nothing more than electricity. He made many , 
other experiments, which proved this to be 
true. This discovery showed the world that 
electricity exists in the air all about us. 
The lightning rod, which collects the elec- 
tricity in the air during a storm, and carrying 
it harmlessly into the ground, prevents the 
destruction of buildings, was the invention of 
Benjamin Franklin. The advancement made in 
electrical appliances since the time of Franklin 
is so great that it can not be estimated. 



180 



The United States 



electricity. 



Franklin 
sent on a 
mission to 
France. 



The value TliG telephone and telegraph would not be 

ofTe^'useof POSslble wlthout the power of electricity. 
These inventions permit people not only of 
the same town, but people separated by thou- 
sands of miles of land and water, to talk with 
one another. They cause the people of all 
countries of the earth to feel more like broth- 
ers to one another. 

Many of our houses and streets are lighted 
by electricity. Our street cars are moved by 
the power of this strange force, and electricity 
is beginning to be used for the moving of 
railroad trains and ships on the water. En- 
gines of all sorts are propelled by electricity. 

If Benjamin Franklin had never done any- 
thing else but discover that lightning and 
electricity are the same, his name would have 
been remembered and honored. 

Franklin was sent to England to try to 
induce the king to treat the American colonies 
better, and for what he did there his fellow 
countrymen loved and respected him. When 
the war with Great Britain began Franklin was 
sent by this country to France to secure the 
aid of the French government. It was partly 
through his wise conduct there, and his brave 
appeals for help, that the French sent ships 
and soldiers to America to aid the colonies in 
securing their independence. 

After the surrender of Cornwallis, Franklin 
gave his aid to the United States by insisting 



Benjamin Franklin 



181 



that their rights should be observed in the 
treaty of peace, which was finally agreed to. 
Eeturning to America, Franklin spent the re- His 

-, i?i'Ti? !• J? !• J. constant 

mamder oi his lire working for his country, patriotic 
He had much to do with the "taking of the endeavor. 
Constitution which the United States adopted. 



_.......«.,... 






^ 



,K^- 



Benjamin Fkanklin, 

He did much to make Philadelphia the well- 
ordered and beautiful city which it is today. 
His service to the state of Pennsylvania and 
the whole country will always be remembered. 

Franklin died in Philadelphia in 1790 in the His death, 
eighty -fifth year of his life, honored and loved 
by the people of America and looked up to by 
the people of foreign countries. 



182 



The United States 



PEACE 



The 

patriotism 
and endur- 
ance of the 
people. 



The treaty 
of peace. 



The colonies had won their independence 
and showed King George the Third of England 
that he conld not tax his colonies as he pleased. 

Great were the sufferings of George Wash- 
ington, the brave commander, and his invin- 
cible Continental army, but during the long 
years of war these brave soldiers were cheered 
and encouraged by patriotic mothers and wives, 
sisters and daughters. These women said to the 
men, "Go! Fight for om- country and our rights. 
We will take care of things here at home while 
you are gone. We will work the farm, and we 
will do the best we can to keep you supplied 
with good, warm clothing. Do not give up." 
With such brave soldiers and such loyal women 
opposed to her, England could not conquer. 

It was not until the fall of 1783, two years 
after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, that a 
treaty of peace was finally agreed to by the 
United States and Great Britain, and the British 
soldiers were withdrawn from our territory. 

By the terms of the treaty the United States 
extended from Canada to Florida, and from 
the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi Eiver 
in the West. Canada belonged to England, 
whereas Florida, as well as the vast expanse 
of country between the Mississippi River and 
the Rocky Mountains, the Louisiana territory, 
belonged to Spain. 



After the Revolution 



183 



DIFFICULTIES AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAE 

During the Revolution the colonies had had The 
great difficulty in holding themselves together, confeder''-^ 
They had agreed to be governed by a collec- ation 
tion of laws which were called the Articles of 
Confederation. But since these laws gave Con- 










The United States in 1783, at the Close of the Revolution. 



gress no real power, it was a hard matter for 

the government to secure money for the sup- se7ve\o 

port of the nation and to keep the different keep the 

colonies at peace with one another. This same pea'lT^ ^ 

difficulty existed after the close of the war. 

It was only through the exertions of Wash- 



184 



The United States 



ingtoii and Franklin and other peace-loving men 
that the thirteen states were held together. 

At times it looked as if there would be 
thirteen separate nations formed of the thir- 
teen colonies. Again some of the colonics 
seemed to be anxious to bind themselves into 
a nation apart from the other states. It was 
suggested by some that George Washington be 
made king of the country, but to this proposi- 
tion he refused absolutely to listen. Finally 
matters were settled to a great extent by the 
forming of the Constitution and its adoption 
by the thirteen states. 

13. OUB COUNTRY AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 



The Now that the Revolutionary War is over and 

an^' ^^ ^^^^ President and Congress are hard at work 
Congress in in Ncw York City trying to straighten matters 
New York. ^^^^ |^^ ^^ pausc to scc wliat kind of country 
the colonists had established for themselves, 
and what Great Britain had lost by the un- 
fairness of her kings. 

At the close of the war there were thirteen 

states within the territory of the United States. 

Some of these had well-defined boundaries, 

but the boundaries of others were much in 

The dispute. The settlements were for the most 

conditions i • i i j i j i i 

they worked P^^'^ cithcr ucar the 'ocean or on the large 
rivers. The country west of the Appalachian 
Mountains was but little known, the settle- 
ments there being few and widely separated. 



with. 



After the Revolution 185 

In all the thirteen states the population did ^^^ 
not equal more than half the number of i3eople 
living today within the one state of New York. 
Of this population the greater part was to be 
found south of the Potomac River, where fully 
one-seventh of the people were slaves. 

The reason for the large number of settlers 
to be found in the South is plain, when we 
think of the great difference in climate, and 
also the difference in kind of soil between the 
two sections of the country. In the South the 
air is warm, almost tropical, for the greater 
part of the year. The soil yields great quan- 
tities of tobacco and cotton, with little help 
from man other than that of planting and 
harvesting the crops. In the North the summer 
is short and the winter long and cold. The 
soil is not easily adapted to the raising of to- 
bacco or cotton, nor is the summer loug 
enough to warrant the planting of such crops. 
Corn and othei* grain can be grown, but the 
fields must be cleared of stumps and rocks 
and the soil must be carefully tilled. 

The southern settlers lived on great planta- in the 
tions, where, with the aid of slaves, and by ^^''^^• 
very little hard work themselves, they raised 
great crops of tobacco and cotton and rice. 
The settlers of the North lived on little farms 
and in towns, each man doing his own work, 
raising his little crops of corn and of wheat, 
keeping his little store or shop, or owning his 



North. 



186 The United States 

boat and making his living by fishing in the 
streams or in the waters of the ocean. In the 
far North, New Hampshire and that country 
which was afterwards admitted to the Union 
as Maine and Vermont, were but little popula- 
ted. The few settlers there made a living by 
felling the trees of the forest and sending the 
wood to the other colonies, or to England. 
Then, too, they hunted animals in the woods, 
they caught codfish, and they captured whales 
and extracted the oil. In the far South great 
quantities of rice and indigo were grown, and 
from the trees the settlers secured pitch and tar. 
In tbe In the North were many little towns on the 

seacoast, and between and behind the towns 
the country was divided into little farms. 
Philadelphia was the largest and most modern 
of all the cities in the country. New York 
was the second in point of size, while Boston, 
in Massachusetts, was the third city of impor- 
tance. In the South there were few towns 
and cities. One might travel for hours through 
great plantations without seeing a house of 
any kind. 

In the North each little town had its church 
and its school house. So, too, each little com- 
munity of farmers had a church conveniently 
located, where the farmers and their families 
could worship on Sundays, and a school house, 
where the children could be educated during 
the week. In the Middle States churches and 



Travel 



187 



school houses were found only in the towns, 
and sometimes not even there, while in the 
South churches were only in the larger places, 
the planters frequently driving many miles on 
Sunday to attend services. Of school houses 
there were very few. 

TKAVEL 

The people did not go much from home. How people 
Few Virginians had been to Georgia. Few of t^^^^^^*^- 
the settlers of New York had made the trip to 
Boston. A man who had traveled from New 




An Old-Time Family Coach. 



Hampshire to the far South was looked on 
as a wonderful traveler. Raih*oads were un- 
known. All travel was either by water, or 
by stage coach, or on horseback, over the 
roughest roads, through wild forests, and by 



fordiufi: streams and wadins: 



The 



>^ swamps, 
traveler who wished to 2:0 from Boston to New 



188 



The United States 



How they 
dressed. 



York spent a week in doing so when the 
weather was fine and the roads in good condi- 
tion. At other times ten days or two weeks 
were necessary to cover the distance. If he 
wished to coutinue to the far South he had to 
be prepared to spend nearly an entire month 
in a stage coach, eating liis meals and sleep- 
ing nights at inns and taverns by the side of 
the road. 

As our traveler went from place to place he 
w^as eagerly questioned about what was happen- 
ing in those parts of the country 
through which he had passed. 
There were few newspapers 
printed, and these were seldom 
seen at any distance from the 
town where they were issued. 
Letters were carried at great 
expense by boys and men on 
horseback. The trips of these 
early postmen were few, because 
each required much time. 

DKESS 

z:^Z^^^^^.-^~'— The dress of the colonists was 

Dress of the Time of ^^^j^ ^^ ^.^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 
THE Revolution. *' 

The men wore three-cornered 
hats, coats short in front and long behind, 
trousers reaching only to the knee, and low 
shoes. This was the dress clothing of the men. 





The Patriotic Spirit 189 

a suit of which lasted a man many years and 

was often handed down by him to his son. 

In the fields homespun clothes of 

linsey-woolsey were worn. In the 

South the planters were often 

richly dressed in clothing brought 

from Europe, but the style there 

was much the same as at the 

North. 

The women wore high hats, or 
enormous bonnets and skirts con- 
taining many yards of material, 
held in place by great hoops of 

** "• Dress of the Time 

In the North the settlers led op the revolu- 
hard working, severe lives, yet '^^^^' 
were able to earn only a bare living. The who did 
housewives and the daughters spent their time t^^work. 
making clothes for themselves and the men, and 
also table-linen, bed-clothes and blankets. In 
the South the slaves did most of the work, 
while the planters led comparatively easy lives, 
entertaining one another and seeking amuse- 
ment. 

THE PATKIOTIC SPIRIT 

Everywhere we find the settlers, both men The 
and women, looking eagerly toward New York ^j^g'^^go^^i, 
and trusting that the President and Congress 
will do their work well and justly. Every- 
where from New Hampshire to Georgia the 



190 The United States 

men met to suggest plans for strengthening 
the country and to speak patriotic words. The 
patriots were proud of their little country, and 
every one was anxious to do his or her share 
in helping it become great and strong. 

NEW STATES 

The growth Many settlers now came to the United States 
tionTnT from other countries to enjoy the freedom 
living which the United States had won. They 

facilities. Q^j^Q ^o establish homes in the great valleys 
and on the mighty streams where yet no 
homes were built. The thirteen original states 
began to grow in population. New settle- 
ments were made. Towns increased in size. 
Roads became better. More newspapers were 
printed. Letters were carried more easily 
and quickly. The country in and beyond the 
mountains was being settled by hardy fron- 
tiersmen. Before the capital of the United 
States was permanently established at Washing- 
ton, three new states, Vermont, Kentucky and 
Tennessee, were admitted to the Union. Ver- 
mont was the first state to be added to the 
United States after the adoption of the Consti- 
tution, the date of her admission being 1791. 

EOBEKT FULTON 

In 1806 Robert Fulton invented the steam- 
boat which made trips on the Hudson River 



Robert Fulton 



191 



between New York and Albany. It is neces- 
sary that the people of a conntry, if they wish 
to make their country great and strong, be of th 

steamboat 



Some re- 
sults of the 
invention 




^i^^:^^^^ 




able to travel from place to place quickly and 
easily. They can then see and know one 
another. The products of one part of the 
country can then be carried to the people in 



192 The United States 

other parts where they are needed. The inven- 
tion of the steamboat was a great step toward 
bringing about this better state of affairs. 

Wliile the states of the Union were growing 
and adding to their number, they not only 
had a great deal of trouble among themselves, 
but with other countries also. 



LOUISIANA 

Louisiana You remember that all the territory between 
hl'isos!'^ tlie Appalachian Mountains and the Eocky 
Mountains had been claimed by France. The 
French based their claim on the fact that it was 
Frenchmen who first extensively explored the 
Mississippi and the other rivers which drain all 
that vast territory. As a result of the French 
and Indian War all the land of the Louisiana 
territory between the Appalachian Mountains 
and the Mississippi River became the property 
of Great Britain. That west of the river was 
ceded by France to Spain. Later (1801) the 
land between the river and the Eocky Moun- 
tains was ceded back to France. Wliile the 
young states were strengthening themselves and 
adding to their number, France and England 
became involved in a great quarrel. France felt 
that she would be unable to hold Louisiana if 
England should attempt to take it away from 
her. Therefore Napoleon, the ruler of France, 
offered to sell Louisiana to the United States. 



Thomas Jefferson 193 

111 this way he would get a great deal of money 
for territory which he felt sure he would other- 
wise lose. He thought, too, that in this way 
he would strengthen the friendship between 
France and the United States. Thomas Jeffer- 
son was President of the United States at the 
time the purchase was made. 

THOMAS JEFFEKSON 

You have been told that George Washington 
was the first President of the United States, 
and that he served for two terms — from April 
30, 1789, to March 4, 1797. Although the people 
of the United States wished to elect him again 
to the Presidency, he would not accept this 
additional mark of their trust. John Adams, John Adams 
of Massachusetts, who had been Vice-President 
during the eight years of Washington's Presi- ton as 
dency, was chosen to succeed him. At the same P^'^sident. 
time, in 1796, Thomas Jefferson was elected 
Vice-President. Adams and Jefferson were in- 
augurated at Philadelphia, March 4, 1797. 

As the name of Thomas Jefferson is closely 
linked with .that of Washington, we shall enjoy 
learning a little about his life. Jefferson's 
ancestors came to Virginia and became planters 
in the colony before the Pilgrims sailed across 
the ocean in the gallant little Mayflower. Our 
Jefferson was born in 1743, on April 2. At 
that time George Washington was already 

M 



succeeded 
Washing- 



194 The United States 

eleven years old, attending school and playing 
soldier with his mates, 
jefiferson's Althougli Jefferson's father was not well edu- 
cated himself, he was anxious that his son 
should have the advantages which learning 
gives. He therefore sent his boy to a good 
school and later to college. As Jefferson had 
been an earnest student, and was capable of 
remembering and applying what he learned, 
when he left college he was a well-educated 
man. From early boyhood he had been inter- 
ested in history and politics. After graduating 
from college he devoted his time to the study 
of law. With the money he earned as a law- 
yer he bought more land, to add to the plan- 
tation which he inherited from his father. 
Jefferson's plantation was located near the 
present city of Charlottesville, in the mountains 
of Virginia. His home was called Monticello. 
Jefferson, like Washington, enjoyed plantation 
life and at Monticello, surrounded by his slaves, 
he spent many happy hours. Although Jefferson 
owned slaves, he did not think it right that men 
should be thus deprived of their freedom. He 
did much to better the condition of the slaves 
in this country by the expression of his opinion 
in regard to them. Like Washington, he hoped 
and believed that slavery would gradually die 
out. He succeeded in having a law passed 
prohibiting the bringing of more slaves into 
Virginia. After the colonies had become the 



Thomas Jefferson 



195 



United States, lie tried to have Congress pass 
a law freeing all the slaves and prohibiting 
slavery in the United States. 





Thomas Jefferson was an honest, perfectly His 
frank man, who did not fear to say or write ^^^l^"^' ^ 
what he believed to be true. Kind-hearted patriotism. 
and cordial to every one, he made many 



196 



The United States 



His work 
in the 
Declaration 
■ of Indepen- 
dence. 



friends. Even those who opposed him on 
matters of national importance loved and re- 
spected him because it was known that he was 
honest in his convictions and that all his 
actions were prompted by patriotism. 

He was a hard and earnest worker for the 
good of the colonies, and later in life for the 
United States. 

In 1768, he was elected to the Virginia 
House of Burgesses, and from that time until 
the Ee volution he was a member of that body. 
Foremost in demanding of the king and the 
royal governors the rights which he knew the 
colonists should have, he became known 
throughout the thirteen colonies as the cham- 
pion of freedom and the enemy of oppression 
and tyranny. 

He was one of the members of the Virginia 
Committee of Correspondence. He was sent 
by Virginia to the Second Continental Congress, 
which issued the Declaration of Independence, 
July 4, 1776. The work of preparing a Decla- 
ration of Independence was placed, by Congress, 
in the hands of five men, three of whom were 
Benjamin Franklin, ^ John Adams and Thomas 
Jefferson. 

The Declaration of Independence, as it was 
finally passed and issued, is largely the work 
of Jefferson. In it are embodied the thoughts 
and sentiments which he had so often urged 
as a member of the Virginia House of Bur- 



Thomas Jefferson 197 

gesses and of the Committee of Correspon- 
dence. 

Soon after the Declaration of Independence 
was issued, Jefferson resigned his seat in 
Congress to become a member of the Virginia 
Legislature, where he thought he could work to 
the better advantage of his countrymen. 

In 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia^ 
where, in the discharge of his duties, he as- 
sisted Washington in his work of driving the 
English from the country. 

Soon after he again occupied a seat in Con- 
gress. In 1785, he was sent to France to 
succeed Franklin, who, as you already know, 
had been there for several years. 

While Washington was President, he asked 
Jefferson to come home from France to be his 
Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is 
an assistant of the President, whose duty it is 
to watch over the affairs which affect the 
relation of our country with other countries. 
The Secretary of State is one of the most 
important offices connected with our govern- 
ment. 

In 1796, Jefferson was elected Vice-President, Jeflferson 
and in 1800 he was chosen by the people to president. 
be their President, and in 1804 he was again 
elected to that high position. 

At the close of his second term, Jefferson 
returned to his home at Monticello, where he 
remained until his death, in 1826. There his 



198 The United States 

body was buried. Many visitors still go 
every year to his grave to show their venera- 
tion and respect for one of the founders of 
our United States. 

T!ie rights Jeffersou was a firm believer in state rights. 
' ''^■^* He thought that Congress was given too much 
power by the Constitution, being afraid that 
our government would become too much a 
government by a few people. He thought that 
if any state did not like a law which the 
National Congress should pass it could nullify 
"that law; that is, it might declare that such 
law was not binding on the people of that 
state. Jefferson was the leader of the state 
rights party in the United States, to which 
there were many adherents. 

Jefferson's Jcffcrsou was vcry plain and unaffected in 
his private life. He objected, also, to any 
show of pomp or finery in his jDublic life. 
When, in 1801, he was inaugurated in the 
capital city, Washington, — he was the first 
President to be inaugurated there — he urged 
that the ceremonies be simple in character. 
He let the people of the country know that 
he did not want them to celebrate his birthday 
each year with gay festivals and balls. He 
wore the simplest of clothing, used plain 
language, and objected to the use of titles. 
While he considered himself the equal of any 
man, he believed that the rights of every 
man were deserving of his respect and con- 



simplicity 
of life. 



The Louisiana Purchase 199 

sideration. When men in public life today 
lead very simple, unostentatious lives they are 
said to observe Jeffersonian simplicity. 

Jefferson was one of our greatest statesmen. His wisdom 
For forty years, as a member of the Virginia ^""f . ^. 

•^ «^ ' ^ patriotism- 

House of Burgesses, as one of the men who 

represented Virginia in the Continental Con- 
gress, as our Minister to France, as Secretary 
•of State to Washington, as Vice-President 
during the administration of Adams, and as 
President for two terms, he honestly worked 
for his country and for the good of its citi- 
zens. Dming the last years of his life he was 
frequently consulted on grave matters by those 
who were in power at Washington. In the try- 
ing time after the Revolution his wisdom and 
patriotism did much to build and strengthen 
the foundations of the peaceful and happy 
government which is ours today. 

It was during Jefferson's first administration The values 
that Louisiana was purchased from Napoleon, f^^^. 

^ ^ Louisiana 

Jefferson saw the great advantage which this purchase, 
territory would be to the United States, so he 
made terms with Napoleon by which it became 
the property of the United States in 1803. 
Thus, you see, the boundaries of the United 
States were extended at that time to the Rocky 
Mountains on the west, and included all the 
country between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico 
with the exception of Florida and that part 
of our country which is the state of Texas; 



200 



The United States 



and also small portions of New Mexico, Kansas 
and Colorado, which were still in the possession 
of Spain. 




The United States in 1803. 



England 
and France. 



14. THE WAE OF IS 12 

Effect of rj^Y^Q great struggle going on in Europe 

between bctweeu England and Erance had a harmful 
effect on the United States. Each of these 
distant countries wished to injure the other as 
much as possible. Each declared that Ameri- 
can ships containing American products should 
not enter the ports of the other nor ports 
friendly to these countries. Thus, American 
ships carrying tobacco or cotton or lumber 



Causes of the War of 1812 201 

could not enter English ports to dispose of 
their cargoes because the French would inter- 
fere. Nor could they enter French ports be- 
cause the English would interfere. As nearly 
every country of any importance in Europe was 
friendly either to France or England, there were 
few ports which American ships could enter 
without opposition . 

CAUSES or THE WAR 

Nor was this all. 

England claimed the right to force any Eng- 
lishman wherever he was found to serve on 
her ships as a sailor or fighter. She claimed 
that many Englishmen were sailing in Ameri- 
can ships. Whenever, therefore, an English Seizure of 
man-of-war sighted an American ship she 
quickly overhauled the latter, and such seamen 
as the commander of the man-of-war desired 
to have were forcibly transferred from the 
American to the English vessel. It made no 
difference whether these sailors were English- 
men or Americans. The English commander 
claimed that they were Englishmen. And 
in the open sea it was not an easy matter 
for an American, with the appearance and 
speech of an Englishman, to prove that he 
was a citizen of the United States. A great 
many of our sailors were thus forced to sail 
in British ships against their will. The Eng- 



American 
seamen. 



202 



The United States 



Seizure of j^g}^ sMps iiot oiily took our sailors, but they 
also robbed the United States of much mer- 



merchan 
dise. 



chandise. The 
ships of the United 
States were seized I 
by the French 




A Naval Battle of 1812. 



men-of-war also and robbed 

of their valuable cargoes. 

But the French commanders could not very 

well take our sailors on the supposition that 



Causes of the War 203 

they were Frenchmen, for an American neither 
looks nor speaks hke a Frenchman. 

The United States government did not wish 
to go to war with either of these countries. But 
at last the treatment of our ships and sailors 
became so unjust that it was decided that war 
was necessary. 

It was known that with whichever of these 
two countries we made war, we should by so 
doing secure the friendship of the other. So 
it was decided to make war on England, as 
France had been our friend during the Revolu- 
tion. Another reason for deciding to wage war 
with England instead of with France was that 
we could harass England by attacking Canada, 
whereas France had no possessions in America 
against which we could move our armies. In 
1812 war was therefore declared against Great 
Britain, and the Americans at once made an 
attempt to capture Canada. 

For nearly three years war was waged be- The war 
tween the two countries, it being for the most ^'^"^^^^^ 

, . nearly 

part a war between English and American three years, 
sliips. The Americans did not succeed in 
taking Canada, but they won many naval 
battles. And the United States, by capturing 
many British ships, proved that on the ocean 
her sailors were as brave as her soldiers were 
on land. As England was the strongest naval 
power in the world, other nations were sur- 
prised at the successes of our little navy. They 



of New 
Orleans. 



204 The United States 

learned that it was not safe to interfere with 
American ships or American sailors. Dming 
this war, which is called the War of 1812, the 
British captured our capital, Washington, and 
burned the Capitol building and nearly all of 
the other government offices, as well as some 
private residences. This act on the part of the 
English was a most extreme one. The burn- 
ing of the buildings of the capital and the 
destroying of many valuable papers did the 
English no good, and, so far as the result of 
the war was concerned, was without effect. 
The battle Tlie last battle of the war was at New Orleans, 
in Louisiana, which state had been admitted to 
the Union in September, 1812, just before war 
was declared. The result of the battle was the 
utter defeat of the English army. A great 
number of English were slain or wounded. In 
this battle of New Orleans the Americans were 
led by Andrew Jackson, who was afterwards 
elected by the people to be President of the 
United States. 

END OF THE WAK 

This great battle, fought on the 8th of Janu- 
ary, 1815, was the last battle fought between 
English and American soldiers. As a result of 
the war, England acknowledged the rights of 
Americans, not only in the United States, but 
also on all oceans. A treaty of peace had been 
agreed to in Europe on December 24, 1814, 



End of the War 205 

but as communication in those days between 
distant places was slow and uncertain, this fact 
was unknown in America at the time of the 
battle of New Orleans ; otherwise this bat- 
tle would not have been fought, and many 
British lives would have been saved. 

The war with Great Britain did not change in ^^^"^ results 
any way the boundaries of the United States. 
However, it did result in giving the people of 
the United States greater trust in their own 
strength. It served, also, to strengthen the 
Union, and make the different states care more 
for the United States as a whole, and less for 
the separate states as states. 

The War of 1812 may almost be considered 
as a part of the War of the Revolution, because 
until England, as well as other nations, gave 
to American ships and American sailors their 
rights on the ocean, the American people 
could not feel that they were entirely free and 
independent. But now that they had proved 
that they would not be meddled with either on 
land or on water, it was acknowledged that 
the United States was in fact, as well as in 
name, a free and independent nation. 

Great numbers of people continued to come 
to the United States from all parts of Europe 
to seek homes in our free country. In 1819 Florida 
Florida was added to the territory of the ^'^'^^ 
United States by purchase from Spain. 

The Mississippi Valley became the home of 



206 The United States 

many thousands of settlers, and new states 
formed there were added to the Union. 



ANDREW JACKSON 

The first six presidents of the United States, 
four of whom served two terms each, were 
well-educated, well-known and powerful men, 
whose names had been before the public for 
many years previous to their election. 

In 1828 a man was chosen to be President 
who was very different from his predecessors. 
This man was Andrew Jackson, who served 
from 1829 to 1837, being elected for two terms. 
Jackson's Tlic great mass of people in the United States, 
the farmers and townsfolk, who were not anx- 
ious to attain prominence in the affairs of the 
nation, but were content to be simply honest, 
industrious citizens of their communities, con- 
sidered Jackson as one of their own number. 
He was much more like such men than either 
Washington or Jefferson, who had always been 
prominent in national as well as local affairs. 

Jackson was born March 15, 1767, at a 
place called the Warsaw settlement. The 
exact location of this settlement is not known, 
but that it was somewhere near the present 
boundary line between North and South Carolina 
is certain. Being of poor parents, who could 
not afford to send their son to school, his 
early education was very irregular. Moreover, 



characteris 
tics, 



Andrew Jackson 



207 



the schools of the far South at that time were And his 
very poor. As Jackson grew older he studied 
law. He began his work as a lawyer in Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. 




He was sent by the people of his adopted 
state as a Eepresentative to the Federal Con- 
gress at Philadelphia in 1796, and the follow- 
ing year was elected a United States Senator. 



208 



The United States 



South 
Carolina's 
attempt at 
state rights. 



He resigned this office after serving a single 
year. 

Jackson was much more of a soldier tlian a 
statesman. He was brave, fearless, and very 
fierce and combative in disposition. His gen- 
eral knowledge was slight. He was a very 
obstinate man, so that when he had once formed 
an opinion it was hard for any one to cause 
him to change it. But Jackson did great ser- 
vice to his country in wars against the Indians 
at various times, and also against the English 
in 1812. He knew how to make his men do 
just what he wanted them to do. And he was 
pretty sure to be victorious when he met the 
enemy, because he would never acknowledge 
that he was beaten. He often won by obsti- 
nacy what other generals less forcible than 
himself might have lost. At the battle of 
New Orleans he overcame a force of English 
soldiers far greater than his own army. 

In 1823 Jackson was again elected to the 
United States Senate, and in 1828 he was 
elected to the Presidency, being inaugurated 
March 4, 1829. He was so successful and so 
well liked that in 1832 he was again elected. 
During his first administration the state of 
South Carolina attempted to assert the suprem- 
acy of its state government over that of the 
United States, or Federal government. In 
other words. South Carolina attempted to 
carry out in fact Jefferson's theonj of state 



George Stephenson 209 

rights. The people of this state were dissatis- 
fied with the laws which Congress had passed 
with regard to our trade with foreign coun- 
tries, and threatened to disobey these laws. 
By his prompt, vigorous action Jackson 
averted trouble, and showed the country that 
at least while he was President the national 
government was of greater importance than 
that of any individual state. 

During Jackson's administration, he suc- 
ceeded in collecting several large sums of 
money from various European nations for 
damages inflicted on American interests some 
years before. 

Although Jackson was not a highly educated 
person, and was unfamiliar with the ways of 
statesmanship, yet he made a good President, 
and was much liked by his countrymen. He 
died in 1845. 

GEORGE STEPHENSON 

In the time of the colonies, and after the George 
Eevolutionary War until 1830, all the travel Stephenson 

•^ ' and the 

was done either by wagon or on horseback steam 
or in little boats on the streams. The power f^ii^ay 

■^ locomotive. 

of steam had already been discovered and ap- 
plied to stationary engines, and in a few cases 
boats were propelled by steam on the rivers. 
But in 1814, an Englishman, Greorge Stephen- 
son, had invented the steam railroad locomo- 
tive. The first locomotive and the first cars 

M 



210 



The United States 



Travel by- 
railway at 
first deemed 
impractical. 



were very amusing in appearance, and at that 
time were laughed at by many people. They 
thought them unsafe. They considered travel 
by such means out of the question. But the 




By permission of 
yas. B. Lyon, Albany, 



George Stephenson. 



rails began to be laid in various parts of the 
country, and by 1830 the little trains began to 
make regular trips. People gradually becoming 
accustomed to the new mode of travel, soon 
realized the many advantages the steam railroad 



The Mexican War 211 

afforded over the slow thongli faithful horse. 
Passengers, baggage, merchandise and farm 
produce could now be moved with speed and 
safety from place to place. People living far 
apart could more easily see one another, and 
could exchange more easily such things as 
they raised or manufactured for what was 
raised or manufactured in some other part 
of the country. For instance, corn could be 
more easily exchanged for cloth, or cotton for 
flour, than was possible before. 

The invention of the locomotive was of the The effect 
greatest importance to our country, because it ^f the 
brought all parts of the United States into the railroad 
close relationship with one another. We can ^^^^^ ' 
now go without difficulty from one state to irtii^s '^'^'' 
another, and because of the railroad we can country. 
obtain the products of all parts of the country 
wherever we live. The invention of the steam 
locomotive did much to open to settlement the 
great country west of the Mississippi Elver. Do 
not forget the name of George Stephenson, an 
Englishman, when you are thinking or talking 
about the men who helped to make our coun- 
try the strong nation it is today. 

15. THE MEXICAN WAR 

Soon after the discovery of America the 
Spanish made themselves masters of Mexico. 
There they continued to rule until 1821, when 
the people of Mexico secured their indepen- 



212 The United States 

dence by force of arms. In this way the 
Republic of Mexico was established, the terri- 
tory of which included, in addition to the 
country included within its present boundary 
lines, that part of the United States lying south 
of Oregon and west of the Louisiana purchase. 
Causes of Qj^^ ^f ^]^q statcs of the new republic which 

War, bordered on the United States was Texas, into 

which many adventurous citizens of this coun- 
try had migrated. The feeling grew on the part 
of the Texans that Texas should be indepen- 
dent of Mexico. In 1835-36 Texas declared 
and secured its independence. It at once asked 
to be annexed to the United States, which re- 
quest was granted by our country in 1845, Texas 
being admitted as a state in that year. 

Mexico had never formally acknowledged the 
independence of Texas, and now that she had 
been admitted to the Union there arose a dis- 
pute over the bomidary line between Texas and 
Mexico. This dispute developed into a war 
between Mexico and the United States, which 
resulted favorably to the United States after a 
two years' struggle. 
And its ^s a result of the treaty of peace, which was 

signed in 1848, a large extent of territory was 
added to the western and southwestern part of 
the United States. Because of this added ter- 
ritory the United States was extended to the 
Pacific Ocean, across the great Rocky Moun- 
tains, 



results. 



The West 213 

About tliis time, in 1846, the question of the The 
ownership of the territory which is now divided ^f oregoT 
into the three states, Oregon, Idaho and Wash- 
ington, was settled between England and the 
United States, and the territory came into the 
undisputed possession of the United States. 

In 1850, that part of the original province 
of Texas not included within the present boun- 
daries of that state was ceded to the United 
States by the state government of Texas. 

In 1853, those parts of the territories of ^he 
Arizona and New Mexico which are south of Purchase, 
the Gila River were purchased from Mexico by 
the United States. This transaction is termed 
the Gadsden Purchase, James Gadsden having 
been prominently identified, on the part of the 
United States, with the negotiations between the 
two countries. 

THE WEST 

In 1848 great trains of wagons began to cross The 
the Eocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, orgow^in 
where, during that year, gold had been dis- California, 
covered in the soil of what is now the state of 
California. Within a year a city of 500 houses 
had been built on the shore of San Francisco 
Bay, and in the harbor were ships from every 
part of the globe. In 1850 California was 
admitted to the Union as a state. 

Gradually the railroads crept across the conn- California 
try, carrying settlers with them. The territory 



214 The United States 

Increase of betweeii tliG Mississippi Eiver and the Pacific 
Ocean began to develop and add to the wealth 
and prosperity of our country. The telegraph 
had been invented, which helped to make the 
people in all parts of the country know one 
another better. By the railway letters could 
be exchanged quickly between the people in 
different states and territories. Newspapers 
contained the latest news brought by tele- 
graph, so that everywhere people were able to 
know of events happening in other parts of 
the country almost as soon as if they had 
taken place at home. 

We will not now undertake to study the many 

events which brought about this condition of 

affairs. We can all see that the spirit which 

influenced the settlers in the thirteen colonies 

And our (\i([ not dic out, but continued to grow and 

expalXnto ^^paud. Thirty -four states, instead of thir- 

thirty-foiir tceu, wcre now united. Thirty- one and a half 

states. million people were dwelling between the two 

oceans instead of the three million people, living 

for the most part in the narrow strip between 

the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic 

Ocean, who constituted the United States at 

the close of the Revolution. 

This was the size and extent of our country 
in 1860, at which time our Union, for which 
Washington and the colonists fought and 
worked so nobly, was in danger of being dis- 
solved. 



The Civil War 215 



IG. THE CIVIL WAR 



In the last of May, 1865, for two days, 
Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington, was 
lined with people who were cheering from 
early morning till late at night, thousands 
of tired and worn soldiers who were returning 
to their homes after long years of warfare on 
the battlefields of a great war. 

On March 4th of the same year, Abraham 
Lincoln had passed down that same avenue 
toward the Capitol building, where he was 
inaugurated President for the second time, 
having already served the country for four 
years, during the most critical period of the 
history of our nation since the Ee volution. 

When Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated 
the first time, in 1861, although there were 
many people to welcome him, the people 
of the United States were not happy. Every 
one was expecting trouble, and was anxiously 
waiting to see how the newly elected President 
would meet these troubles. For many years 
there had been differences between the people 
in the Southern part of the United States and 
those of the Northern part. 

As you have already learned, when this Tne causes 
country was very young a great number of ^^^^^^^"^ 
negroes were brought here from Africa, a 
country, far, far away, where the skins of 
the natives are black. These negroes were 



216 The United States 

savages in their own eonntry, spending most 
of their time hunting in the forests and fight- 
ing among themselves. 

White men sent great ships to Africa, where 
the negroes were captured, taken on board the 
ships and then brought to this country to be 
sold as slaves to the people living here. 

Slavery. Wlicu a man needed help on his farm or 
plantation, instead of hiring men to do his 
work, he would buy negroes. These negroes 
were then that man's property, and had to do 
just as he told them. He furnished them 
what food they needed, and clothed them, but 
gave them no money for their work. If a 
man found he had too many slaves he sold of 
his number to those w^ho wanted to buy. It 
made no difference whether the slave wished 

Its evils. to go or not. He was like a man's horse or 
cow; he was property, and as such could be 
sold or traded away. 

In 1808 our government declared that no 
more slaves should be brought to this country. 
People began to see that it was very wrong to 
take a man from his country, his home and 
his family without his consent and sell him in 
a far land. Then gradually, as the slaves who 
were in this country became more civilized, 
and learned our language and began to live 
more like white people, the people in some 
parts of the United States thought that they 
should be free. 



The Civil War 217 

It was mainly the people who lived in the 
Northern ]3art of the United States who thought 
this way. Possibly this was because there 
were not so many slaves in the North as in 
the South. Perhaps, too, opinion was affected 
by the fact that the people in the Northern 
states could get their work done quite easily 
without the use of slave labor. Their farms 
were small. Usually a farmer, with the help 
of his sons, could harvest his crops without 
any outside help, except, perhaps, a hired man 
or two during the busy part of the harvest 
season. In the South, however, the planta- 
tions were large. Many men were required to 
take care of the enormous crops of tobacco and 
cotton which were raised there. The negroes its utility 
were well fitted for this work, because they *^^ ^^""^^ 
were accustomed to a hot climate, and were 
able to work for many hours in the hot sun. 
You remember, too, that the first slaves ever 
brought to this country were those brought by 
the early Virginia settlers. So most of the 
slaves were held in the Southern states. 

As this feeling that it was wrong to hold 
men as slaves grew, the Northern states freed 
their slaves, and passed laws which made it 
illegal for any one living in those states to own 
slaves. The people in the Southern states 
had a different view of this matter. The loss 
of slave labor would mean much to them. 
Each planter needed many men to work his 



218 The United States 

plantation for him. And the people of tlie 
South thought that, inasmuch as they had 
bought the slaves, and were giving them food 
and clothing, and were, in most cases, treat- 
ing them as well as hired laborers would be 
treated, they should be allowed to keep them. 
Although many of the Northern people did not 
think it right that human beings should be 
held as slaves, they also did not think it would 
be fair to take the slaves from those to whom 
they were so necessary. 

If the number of states in our Union had 
not increased, serious trouble over the slave 
Ttie question would undoubtedly have been long 

shouurthe delayed. But the great West was fast becom- 
greatwest ing populatcd and built up with cities and 
hokUngT towns, and the people living in its various 
agitating the parts werc demanding admission to the Union, 
people. rpj^^ numbcr of states where slaves were 
owned and the number of states where it was 
against the law to hold men as slaves were 
quite evenly balanced. Each time a new ter- 
ritory was formed, or a territory asked admis- 
sion to the Union as a state, there was much 
bitter discussion as to whether or not the new 
territory or state should be allowed to hold 
slaves. These discussions often resulted in 
bloody fights. 

Northerners TllC pCOplc of Cacll SCCtioU of tllC COUUtry 

rrre'fh^ve thought they werc right. The North was will- 
states, ing that the South should retain its slaves, 



Abraham Lincoln 219 

but it was not willing that any new territories 
or states should be formed in which slavery 
was permitted. The South thought that the Southerners 
balance between slave and free states should ^airnce 
be maintained. It was fearful lest the repre- between 
sentation in the National Congress from the gjave^stttes 
free states might become so large, and the should be 
objection to slavery so strong, that the final ^^^^' 
result would be the freeing of the slaves in 
the states already in the Union. 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN 

It was during this time, when the South and 
the North were differing about slavery, that 
Abraham Lincoln grew to manhood. Every 
one in the United States, wherever he may 
live, loves and honors the name of Washing- 
ton; so, too, does he love and honor that of 
Lincoln. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, 
February 12, 1809, but soon after his birth his 
parents moved to Indiana, where the future 
President passed his boyhood. As Lincoln's 
parents were very poor, the boy's life was very 
different from that of Washington, whose 
parents w^ere rich. Instead of passing the Lincoln's 
early years of his life in a large mansion sur- ^^^ ^ 
rounded with all the things which make life 
most pleasant, Lincoln lived in a little house 
built of logs, having only the bare necessities 



220 The United States 

of life. Lincoln's bed was a bed of leaves, his 
meals were eaten on a table roughly made 
with his father's ax out of some one of the 
trees with which the Lincoln cabin was sur- 
rounded. The chairs on which the Lincoln 
family sat were made in this same manner. 

The part of the country in which Lincoln 
lived was very wild at that time. There was 
danger from the Indians, as well as from wild 
animals in the forests. The people were so few 
that often a man's nearest neighbors were many 
miles away. The fact that Lincoln's father 
was poor, combined with the fact that the 
family lived in such a new and unbroken 
country, made it difficult for young Lincoln 
to attend school. But sometimes he was able 
to go to the little log school house, where he 
His self- learned to read and write. The young fellow 
was anxious to learn, however, so he managed 
to collect a few books, which he read and 
re-read until he knew everything in them. 
Sometimes he was able to borrow a book 
which he had never read, and then he was 
most happy. 

His life was hard. He helped his father in 
cutting down trees in the forest, building 
fences, making roads and in all work that 
makes the country a more pleasant place in 
which to live. He grew to be a strong man, 
the most powerful of any in his neighborhood, 
but, as he was honest and upright in all his 



education. 



I/,. I . /'■' ; ■;■ '■',. I, 




^^ujtur^^ 



222 The United States 

dealings, people liked him more for these good 
qualities than for his strength. 

LINCOLN AS A YOUNG MAN 

Lincoln as a Lincohi, like Washington, left his home 
young man. ^yj^^gj^ y^t a joung man to fight the Indians. 
However, his experience as an Indian fighter 
was not very great. But he proved at that 
time that he was strong and fearless, as well 
as honest. 

To make a living for himself and to help his 
family, Lincoln did many things. He worked 
on the Mississippi as a boatman, he split logs 
into rails for fences, he served as a clerk in a 
little store, and he was at one time a country 
postmaster. Once he and a friend together 
owned a store. But whatever Lincoln was 
• doing, he managed to spend a great part 
of his time reading and studying. He was 
especially interested in such books as related 
to the laws of his country. And he did every- 
thing in his power, by borrowing books, or 
by buying new ones with his hard-earned 
money and reading them, by talking with older 
and wiser men about what he read, and by 
reasoning much with himself, to make himself 
a lawyer. While Lincoln was thus working 
for a living and an education, his father 
removed to Illinois, where, with his son's help, 
a new log cabin was built, 



Lincoln as a Lawyer 223 

LINCOLN AS A LAWYER 

Lincoln began his work as a lawyer in Lincoln as s 
Illinois. Because people knew him to be ^^^y®^- 
honest, brave, trustworthy and industrious, 
they engaged him for advice. It was not long 
before his neighbors called on him to be their 
representative in the legislature. In 1837, he 
moved to Springfield, which had just been 
made the capital of the state. 

The people of Springfield and vicinity also 
chose Lincoln for the legislature. Until 1847, 
he worked for their interests, devoting his spare 
moments to the practice of law. He was then 
sent as the representative of his neighbors and 
townspeople to the National Congress at Wash- 
ington. At this time the trouble between the 
Southern and Northern states was becoming 
so great that wise and good men were es- 
pecially needed in the National Legislature. 
Lincoln was chosen from a state where slaves 
were not held, and he himself was opposed 
to the addition of new territories or states 
in which the holding of slaves was allowed. 
After serving one term (two years) in Con- 
gress, Lincoln returned to Springfield, wdiere 
he continued his law practice. He made many 
speeches as the friend of the negro. 

Lincoln was a tall, thin, large-boned man, His 
with a most gentle and loving disposition, ^pp^^^^^^^- 
Everyone, even those who were bitterly opposed 



224 The United States 

to him on the slave question, admired and re- 
spected him. He was kind and considerate to 
everyone, yet bold and honest in his convic- 
tions. He had many public arguments with 
men better known than himself, but so sound 
was his reasoning and so forcible his way of 
explaining his reasons that he was considered 
one of the best public speakers of the time, 

THE SLAVEKY QUESTION 

The Washington and other men of his time 

vTiuTof'^ thought that slavery would ' gradually die out 
slavery. in the United States, and that the question 
would thus in time settle itself. The value 
of slave labor to the Southern states was, 
however, so great that serious trouble could 
not be averted. 
Eli Whitney In 1793, au invention was made which greatly 
cotton gin. increased the value of land in the South, and 
was, at the same time, the cause for the bring- 
ing of many more slaves into this country. 
This was the cotton gin invented by Eli Whit- 
ney. This cotton gin was a very simple con- 
trivance, which quickly and easily separated 
the cotton seed from the fiber. Previous to 
that time the work had been done, neither so 
well nor so quickly, by hand. This invention 
gave a new incentive to the raising of cotton, 
caused many new plantations to be cleared, 
and made necessary the importation of great 



The Slavery Question 



225 



numbers of slaves. Because cotton cannot be 
raised in the North on account of the climate, 
these new slaves were brought to and used 
only in the South. As you know, the slave fZlllT 
trade was prohibited in 1808. But the children in isos.; 




Eli Whitney. 

of slaves were slaves, too, at their birth, and 
belonged to the man who owned the mother. 
So, although slaves could not be brought from 
Africa, yet the number of black men was in- 
creasing from year to year. As early as 1787 



226 



The United States 



The line 
between 
free and 



the government of the United States passed a 
law by which no man could be held as a slave 
in any of the territory of the United States 
north of the Ohio Eiver and east of the Mis- 
sissippi. At that time, then, the free states 

slave states, wcre Ncw Hampshire, Massachusetts, New 
York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania and Delaware, while the slave 
states were Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina and Georgia. Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Louisiana were soon admitted 
as slave states, Vermont and Ohio being 
admitted as free states about the same time. 
In 1816, Indiana, a free state, was admitted, 
and in 1817, Mississippi, a slave state, joined 

The balance, the Uulou. lu 1818, Illiuois, a free state, was 
made one of the United States, and the next 
year, 1819, Alabama, in which the holding of 
slaves was permitted, was made one of the 
Union . 

The people of the South were not willing 
that a state in which slaves could not be held 
should be admitted to the Union unless a state 
in which slavery was permitted was also ad- 
mitted. 



MISSOUKI COMPKOMISE 



When the territory west of the Mississippi 
River became settled, and people living there 
demanded admission to the Union, there was 
no natural boundary line, like the Ohio River, 



Missouri Compromise 227 

south of which all territory was to be open to 
slavery and north of which slavery was to be 
prohibited. 

In 1820, Maine was admitted to the Union The 
as the twenty -third state. The people in what ^^^^^^^^^ 

. Compro- 

is now the state of Missouri also demanded mise, and 



admission as a state. But the southern part ^ 

involved. 



what it 

of our country insisted that Missouri should 
be a slave state. This brought up the question 
of how the territory west of the Mississippi 
River should be divided. In 1821, Missouri 
was admitted as a slave state, but Congress at 
the same time determined that from that time 
the line of separation between free and slave 
soil in all territory ceded to the United States 
by France, under the name of Louisiana, 
should be the parallel of 36° 30' north lati- 
tude. By looking at the map you can see 
just where this line is, between the Mississippi 
River and the Rocky Mountains. It was 
thought that this act of Congress, which is 
called the Missouri Compromise, would settle 
forever the slavery question in the admission 
of new states to the Union. 

Arkansas was admitted as a slave state in 
1836, and in 1837 Michigan, a free state, was 
added as an offset for Arkansas. In 1845, 
Texas and Florida came into the Union as 
slave states, Iowa and Wisconsin following in 
1846 and 1848 respectively as free states. 

When California, where gold was discovered, 



228 The United States 

was asking admission to the Union in 18^9, it 
was seen that the provisions of the Missouri 
Compromise would not apply to that state, for 
part of California was south of the parallel of 
36° 30^ and part of it was north of this line. 
Another compromise was made in 1850, by 
which California was admitted to the Union as 
a free state, the territories of Utah and New 
Mexico being organized, in which slavery was 
permitted, as an offset. The present states of 
Utah and Nevada were included in the terri- 
tory of Utah, and the territories of Arizona 
and New Mexico in that of New Mexico. As 
a part of this compromise, the sellin.e: of 
slaves was forever prohibited in the District of 
The fugitive Columbia. Moreover, a very strict fugitive 
slave law was passed. By this law, any slave 
could be captured and returned to his owner, 
even though he had fled to a free state. 



KANSAS -NEBKASKA BILL 

People of In 1854, the government of the United States 

^^^"^ passed a law by which the people of a new 

territory to -^ "^ ^ ^ 

decide for territory who might wish to enter the Union as 

or against .^ statc wcrc to dccidc for themselves whether 

their state, or uot slavcry should be permitted in their 

state. This act was the Kansas -Nebraska bill, 

by which the two territories of Kansas and 

Nebraska were organized. 

This act was the cause of a great deal of 



>lave law. 



D' 



Kansas -Nebraska Bill 229 

trouble and some bloodshed. The politicians 
of the North and South influenced many set- 
tlers to migrate to the West, each faction hop- 
ing that when the time came for the admission 
of the new state formed there, their sympathi- 
zers would exceed in numbers those of their 
opponents, and they would thus gain the state 
for their cause. 

The opposition between the two sections was 
most bitter. The Southern people claimed that 
the government of the United States had no 
more power to say whether slavery should be 
13ermitted in a territory than it had to say 
whether slaves should be held in a state. The The North 
people of the North insisted that neither new thenumber 
territories nor new states in which slavery was of slave 
permitted should be organized. should not 

Neither Kansas nor Nebraska was aamitted increase, 
to the Union as a slave state. Kansas was ad- ^nd that the 

Federal 

mitted as a free state in 1861. Nebraska did government 
not ioin the Union until the question of slavery should be 

siiDr^niB. 

in the United States had been settled forever. 

We must remember that the North did not 
wish to abolish slavery in the Southern states. 
It simply insisted that the number of states in 
which slavery was permitted should not be in- 
creased. 

The South claimed that the national govern- 
ment could not enforce laws in states wdiich 
did not wish to be governed by these laws. 
It believed in state rights, as Jefferson had 



230 The United States 

The South believed. It claimed that any state had the 

claimed that • i . •« •. i -> . l^^(» 

the national ^ght, it it pleased, to iiullity any law passed 

government ^y Congress. TMs was the claim made by 

enforcelaws Soutli Carolina in the time of Andrew Jackson . 

in states You scc, if any state could obey or not, as it 

noTwishto pleased, the laws passed by Congress, our 

be governed couutiy would bc sui'e to dcvclop iiito a great 

by these number of little nations, each with its own 

laws, ^ ' 

laws, instead of one great nation with one 
central government. The North insisted that 
the federal government, the government of the 
United States as a whole, should be the su- 
preme government of our nation ; that is, the 
people of the North believed that any law 
which was passed by Congress should be 
accepted by every state in the Union, even 
though the people of any particular state did not 
think such law was what it should be. This 
is what Andrew Jackson meant when he said, 
"The federal government must be preserved." 

Abraham Lincoln was among the foremost 
men in the country who held that the extension 
of slavery must cease. He was very outspoken, 
and was forcible in everything he said, so that 
there was no doubt at all about his opinions 
with regard to the slavery question. 



LINCOLN ELECTED PKESIDENT 

When, in 18G0, the people of the United 
States were discussing among themselves who 



Lincoln Elected President 231 

would make a good President to succeed Mr. 
Buchanan, whom they had elected in 1856, a 
great many people in the North thought of 
Lincoln. They thought him the best man to 
send to Washington as President, because they 
knew him to be honest and patriotic, and they 
also knew that his views on the slavery ques- 
tion were the same as their own. He was, 
therefore, selected as a candidate, and at the 
election in the fall of 1860 he was elected Lincoln's 
President. This election was considered a con'^skiered a 
victory for the Northern people, who thought victory for 
that slavery should not be extended. But ^^^n^^*^- 
the Southern states were much alarmed, fear- 
ing that slavery would not only be forbidden 
in any new territory or state which might be 
organized, but that slaves in the states already 
in the Union would be set free. 

The people in all parts of the Union, both 
South and North, still hoped that the trouble 
would be settled without bloodshed. But Lin- 
coln's opinions were so well known, and the 
bitterness between the North and the South 
was so great, that the Southern states were 
afraid they would not receive fair treatment at 
the hands of the new administration. 



THE CONFEDEKATE STATES OF AMEKICA 

After Lincoln's election, but before he was 
inaugurated, seven states, — South Carolina, 



232 



The United States 



The 

Confederate 
States of 
America. 



Their 
organiza- 
tion. 



Fall of Fort 
Sumter. 



Further 
secession. 



Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louis- 
iana and Texas, — seceded from the United 
States; that is, the people who lived in these 
states said, "We will be governed by the Con- 
stitution of the United States no longer. We 
will establish a government of our own, with 
a Constitution which suits us.'' 

These states organized themselves as the 
Confederate States of America. This was in 
February, 1861. They adopted a Constitution, 
elected Jefferson Davis President, and selected 
Montgomery, Alabama, for their capital. This 
Southern Confederacy immediately began to 
take possession of forts and arsenals belong- 
ing to the United States located within the 
states which formed the Confederacy. One 
fort, however. Fort Sumter, in Charleston 
Harbor, the Southerners could not easily take. 
The Union commander there refused to sur- 
render. Abraham Lincoln, who had now been 
inaugurated, sent word to the commander of 
Fort Sumter that he would soon send him aid. 
As soon as this was known, the people of 
South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter, over 
which the United States flag was flying, and 
succeeded in forcing the United States soldiers 
to leave their fort. (April 13, 1861.) 

The President at once called on the United 
States for soldiers. North Carolina, Virginia, 
Arkansas and Tennessee refused to send sol- 
diers in response to this call. Instead, these 



The War 233 

states joined the Confederacy. Thns you see 
tkere were eleven states which left the Union, 
refusing to be governed by the Constitution 
which had bound the original thirteen states to- 
gether, and under which our country had grown 
and prospered for many years. Maryland, 
Kentucky and Missouri, although slave -holding 
states, did not secede from the Union, but 
remained loyal to the Constitution and to the 
flag. 

Richmond, 

The capital of the Confederacy was soon Virginia, 
moved from Monto-omery to Richmond, in *^e capital 

^^. . . & J 'of the Con- 

Virgmia. federation. 

THE WAR 

During the seven long years of the Revolu- 
tion it was the union of the Southern colonies 
with those of the North that had made free- 
dom possible. The Southern states and the 
Northern states had grown side by side since 
that war, prospering and growing greater. Growth and 
The United States was one great nation. In P^*o«pe"ty 
this nation there were two brothers. One and south 
owned slaves; the other did not. These two before the 
brothers had many discussions and many 
quarrels, but each loved the other and each 
tried in every way to prevent these quarrels 
from developing into more serious difficulties. 
The Northern brother said to his brother of 
the South, "You have bought your slaves; you 



234 



The United States 



statement 
of the 
quarrel. 



Lincoln's 

call for 

soldiers to 

protect 

United 

States 

property. 



have fed and clothed them, and they are yours. 
I do not wish to take them away from you, for 
then you would suffer a great deal. But when 
we together add more land to that which we 
already possess, I think that slaves should not 
be permitted in our new acquisition." The 
Southern brother said, " I do not ask you to 
own slaves. If you do not want them you do 
not need to have them. I think I do need 
slaves, and I do not think that you should 
decide whether new territory should be free or 
slave soil." And so they quarreled. At last 
the Southern brother began to fear that not 
only would slavery be prohibited in new ter- 
ritory, but that the slaves that he already 
owned would be taken from him, so he said 
to his Northern brother : " I will leave you, 
and we can have two separate governments, so 
that each of us can do as he pleases." 

Abraham Lincoln called for soldiers to pro- 
tect the forts and arsenals of the United 
States which were located in the Southern 
states. These soldiers were told that they 
were to serve but three months. Nearly all 
the people in the North believed that within 
that time the South would realize that the 
various states of the Union were " one and 
inseparable," and would again agree to be gov- 
erned by the old Constitution. But at the end 
of three months people both of the South and 
of the North saw that a much longer time 



The War 235 

would be needed to mend the quarrel between 
the two sections. Many people living in the 
states which called themselves the Southern 
Confederacy did not believe that any state had 
the right to leave the Union. But when their 
state did leave they said, " We must stay with 
our state. If it leaves the Union so must we, 
and we must fight for our state, even though 
we are fighting against our country." The 
people in Eastern Tennessee, however, thought 
differently. They remained loyal to the United 
States even though their state did join the 
Confederacy. So, also the people living in 
the western part of Virginia, loving their 
country more than their state, refused to join 
the Confederacy. In 1863 the western portion 
of Virginia was admitted to the Union as a 
separate state. West Virginia. 

The first bloodshed between the brothers of warfrom 
the North and the South was on April 19, Apni i9, 

^ ' 18G1, to 

1861, and from that date until General Lee's aphi 9, 
surrender, April 9, 1865, the men of the United ^^^^ 
States fought one another in one of the most 
terrible wars the world has ever known. 

Both the North and the South were fighting 
for what each thought was right. The soldiers 
in each army were Americans, and so it was 
a war waged by soldiers than whom none in 
the world are braver. In the end the North 
proved to the South, and to the whole w^orld, 
that no state in the Union can leave the 



236 



The United States 



Sufferings 
of the South. 



Union of its own free will. The South suf- 
fered a great deal more than the North in this 
war, for most of the fighting was done in terri- 
tory south of the Potomac River. Both the 
Southern and the Northern armies lived in 
the South for four years. Houses, barns and 




By permission of 
James B. Lyon. 



Robert E. Lee. 



fences were destroyed and plantations were 
over- run and well-nigh ruined. The suffering 
of the people of the South was very great. But 
through it all they showed the utmost bravery 
and loyalty to what they thought was right. 
The soldiers who were fighting one another 



The War 237 

were the descendants of the men whom the 
trained soldiers of the great British nation 
could not conquer one hundred years before. 
The North could not conquer the South, and 
the South could not conquer the North. The 
North was in the end victorious, but the South 
was not beaten because she was less brave 
than the North. The South was beaten be- 
cause there were hardly any Southern soldiers 
left to fight. The South fought as long as she 
had any strength with which to fight. 

Every one, now, whether he lives south or The lesson 
north of the Potomac, knows that no state ^^*^^^^^'^- 
can leave the Union. When the Southern 
states wished to leave the Union in 1860, how- 
ever, the people of the South thought they 
were right. And for bravery in fighting for 
what they thought was right the South has 
never been surpassed. 

The South was laboring under insurmount- 
able difficulty in obtaining money with which 
to supply the Confederate armies with the 
necessities of war. Her soldiers were fighting 
against almost unlimited numbers of men who 
were as brave as themselves. The homes 
of these men were not destroyed by the rav- 
ages of war. And their government could pro- 
cure any amount of money with which to 
supply them with food, clothing and the muni- 
tions of war. The South could not succeed; 
the struggle was too unequal. As it was, the 



238 The United States 

South continued the struggle for a year after 
the result was a certamty. For a year they 
struggled against hope, against sure defeat, 
against unconquerable odds, because they 
thought that they wei'e right and that the 
North was wrong. We have been sorry that 
these two American brothers could not settle 
their difficulties without shedding each other's 
blood. Bat we may be proud of their unsur- 
passed bravery. Let us hope that our country, 
Unity and which is uow ouc, will always be the land of 

thrmiXut ^^^^ ^^'^^> ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ shall call another 
the country, mastcr. We should be proud of our Union, 
and work to keep the government of the peo- 
ple, and for the people, a government by the 
people wherever they may live, whether under 
the Southern sun, on the plains of the West 
or among the hills and valleys of the North. 
There is no South and there is no North. For a 
few years there was such a distinction. When 
the war was ended, however, and the soldiers of 
the North returned to their homes, the nation 
became one again, and together the people of 
these United States have worked for the one 
flag and for the one government which the men 
of the thirteen colonies fought to establish. 

The two brothers developed side by side, 
they differed on certain matters, they quar- 
reled, they fought. One was stronger than the 
other, as must always be the case. But when 
these two sheathed the sword of contention 



The War 239 

and clasped hands in friendship, the nations 
of the earth learned a lesson which will never 
be forgotten. 

When the North found that the Confederacy 
was not to be quickly and easily overcome, a 
certain question arose which had not been 
thought of when the war began. This was the 
freeing of the slaves of the Confederate states. 

There were so many more men in the North 
than in the South that while some joined the 
army and went to the South to fight, others 
stayed at home, working the farms for food 
for their absent neighbors. In the South, 
however, every man was needed in the army. 
Old men, gray -haired and feeble, marched 
bravely side by side with young men and boys 
who had left school to join the army. The 
slaves were left to work the plantations and 
earn the money with which to supply their 
masters with food. Slaves were the teamsters 
of the Southern army. They were the ser- 
vants of the Southern officers. 

Moreover, many persons in England, who Foreign 
did not forget that they had been beaten so H^"^^^^'' 
badly by the United States in the Revolution 
and in the War of 1812, were glad to do any- 
thing they could to injure our country. They 
knew that they could do this by helping the 
South. But if the slaves should be declared 
free, England could not so well take sides 
with the South, 



zers. 



240 



The United States 



THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES 



The 

emancipa- 
tion of the 
slaves. 



General 
Lee. 



On September 22, 1862, President Lincoln 
told the South that on the 1st of January, 
1863, the slaves in all states then fighting the 
Union would be declared free. You see, Lin- 
coln did this so as to bring the war to a close. 
He did it to weaken the South, and to make 
it more easy for the North to conquer. If the 
South did not give in by the 1st of January, 
1863, she would be fighting not only to make a 
separate nation of herself, but also for the 
right to hold men as slaves. England could 
not well give aid to soldiers fighting for slavery 
against soldiers fighting that a race should 
have freedom. The South refused to come 
back into the Union, so all the slaves in the 
Confederate states were on January 1, 1863, de- 
clared free forever.* Of course the South did 
not recognize the freedom of the slaves until 
the close of the war, but the proclamation by 
President Lincoln, declaring that they were free, 
did much to hasten the close of the war. 

On April 9, 1865, General Kobert E. Lee, 
Commander-in-Chief of the Southern armies, 
surrendered his Confederate army to General 
U. S. Grant. The Civil War was at an end, 
and the North and South were one again. 

*The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the slaves in the 
loyal slave states, nor to those of several portions of the Confederate 
states that were loyal. Not until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution, December 18, 1865, was slavery completely 
abolished in the United States, 



The Emancipation of the Slaves 241 

General Lee was a great soldier, who loved 
his country, but who thought that the South 
was not justly treated, and so took up arms 
against the flag under which he had once General 
served. General Grant was Commander -in- Grant. 




U. S. Grant. 

Chief of the Northern armies. His name is 
coupled with Lincoln's name in the hearts of 
the people, for doing so much to perpetuate the 
Union. Robert E. Lee and U. S. Grant, the 
one the leader of the soldiers of the South, 



242 The United States 

the other the leader of the soldiers of the North, 
both honest m then- belief, were soldiers and 
generals of whom the whole nation is proud. 

"When the thirteen colonies took up arms 
against the King of England they had no inten- 
tion of declaring themselves free. They discov- 
ered, however, that by so doing they would be 
strengthened, that their chances of successfully 
gaining their rights would be increased, therefore 
they issued the Declaration of Independence. 

The Northern people in 1861 did not fight 
the South for the sake of freeing the slaves. 
After the war had been waged for two years, 
they discovered that their success depended 
largely on declaring the slaves free. The 
Emancipation Proclamation was then issued. 
Why the The Revolution was fought so that the colo- 

Revoiution ^^^^ could obtalu their rights. The Declaration 

W^as lought. c5 

of Independence was issued, and a new nation 

formed, as a war measure, to aid in bringing 

victory to the colonies. 

Why the The Civil War was fought to prove to all the 

Civil War g^r^^gg of ii^Q countrv that no state could leave 

was fought. " 

the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation was 
issued, and the slaves declared free, as a war 
measure, to aid the North and weaken the South. 
The time immediately after the Civil War was 
one of anxiety and trouble, as were the few 
years succeeding the Revolution. On the even- 
ing of April 14, just five days after the sur- 
render of the Southern armies. President Lin- 



Assassination of Lincoln 243 



coin was shot while attending a theater in Death of 
Washington. The man who did this cruel ^^""^'°- 
deed was one of a band of fanatics who 
thought that they would be serving the South 
by killing the President and his assistants. 
No one realized the mistaken idea of these 
men more than the i^eople of the South. Lin- 
coln was a Southerner by birth. His early 
boyhood was spent in southern Indiana, and 
his early manhood in southern Illinois, on the 
border line of the South. The friend of every 
one, honest and true to his country and to 
each of its citizens, his love for his Southern 
brother was unbounded. So just was he in all 
his dealings with the serious questions of the 
time that on the outbreak of the war he was 
even called traitor by members of his own 
party in the North for not declaring the slaves 
free. Had the hand of the assassin been 
stayed, it is probable that the fearless justice 
of Lincoln, and his unbiased wisdom, would 
have saved the South much suffering, and 
have brought peace and a feeling of security 
much sooner to all the people of the Union. 

Lincoln was buried at Springfield, Illinois. 
Sacred and hallowed is the ground where 
Washington's dust lies buried; so, too, sacred 
and hallowed is the resting-place of Lincoln. 

On the death of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, 
the Vice-President, became President for the 
uncompleted term. 



244 The United States 

Grant j^^ ^ggg General U. S. Grant was chosen by 

cliosen 

President, the people to be their President. He was so 
popular throughout the nation that he was 
chosen for a second term, serving until 1877, 
when he was succeeded by Rutherford B, 
Hayes. 

17. SINCE THE WAR 

Growth of As you have been told, at the beginning of 
popu a ion. ^^^ Civil War the population of the United 
States was 31,500,000. Today over 70,000,000 
people are within its territory. The great 
West has been developed until now forty -five 
states compose the Union. Others will proba- 
bly soon be admitted. 
Unity of the There is no North and there is no South, 
but the whole country is one great, prosper- 
ous nation. It is one of the foremost in human 
advancement, and the flag of Stars and Stripes 
is honored in every land of the earth. 

You, the children of this great nation, the 
future builders, you, whose minds and hands 
are to mould the destiny of the country, should 
study well the reasons why the United States 
came to exist, and the reasons why the gov- 
ernment still exists today. 

PKOGKESS OF THE UNITED STATES 

During the years which have passed since 
the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln 



Progress of the United States 245 

to the presidency, the history of our country 
is a story of great changes and remarkable 
advancement. 

The histories of all peoples are filled with The 
accounts of bloody battles and the deeds of of disputes 
brave soldiers. Disputes about trade, boun- byarbitra- 
dary lines and injuries of all kinds have been 
settled on the field of battle and by the shed- 
ding of human blood. Since the close of our 
Civil War, a new system of settling inter- 
national disputes has been advanced, and has 
shown the world that strife and warfare are 
not always necessary in the settlement of dis- 
agreements between nations. The more honor- 
able method of peaceful arbitration, by which 
questions of serious importance between our 
government and that of Great Britain have 
been settled, fitly illustrates the progress which 
civilization has made. 

During the Civil War, by certain friendly ^1^^^^"^^'^" 
acts toward the Southern Confederacy, Great England 
Britain did much damage to the property of tiius settled 
citizens of the United States. At one time 
the demands made by the United States for 
payment for these injuries, and the refusal of 
Great Britain to make such payment, threat- 
ened to involve our country a.new in a war 
with the mother land. At last, however, both 
nations agreed to place the matter in the 
hands of disinterested parties and to abide by 
their decision. The question was thus settled 



246 The United States 

without bloodshed in favor of the United 
States. Soon difficulties arose regarding the 
boundary line between the United States and 
British Columbia, which belongs to Great 
Britain. These difficulties, also, were settled 
by arbitration. 

Again, our country and Great Britain quar- 
reled over the right to hunt and kill seals in 
the waters of the ocean adjacent to territory 
belonging to the United States. This question 
also was submitted to arbitration. 

The establishment of an International Board 
of Arbitrators has been suggested, by which all 
questions of dispute between nations having 
representation on the Board shall be settled 
peaceably in an honorable way. 
Arbitration jJq^ much bcttcr it is to settle disputes 
between nations by friendly talk and discus- 
sion, and by hearing testimony from people 
who know about the question in dispute, than 
by warfare. By weighing carefully each dis- 
puted point, in the end the truth is sure to 
be discovered, and the nation which is in the 
right is almost certain to sustain its just 
claims. Marching armies against each other 
causes great loss of life, untold suffering to 
the loved ones at home, great destruction of 
property, and the expenditure of vast sums of 
money, for the earning of which many years 
of peace and hard work are necessary. Peo- 
ple and governments must be better when 



war. 



Progress of the United States 247 

great questions between them of right and 
wrong are settled without resorting to the rifle 
and sword. 

At the close of the Revolution, when peace increase of 
was made with England, the territory of the territory. 
United States reached only to the Missis- 
sippi River, and embraced but 828,000 square 
miles. At present there are* over 3,600,000 
square miles of territory within the juris- 
diction of the government on the American 
continent. 

At the close of the Revolution, as you know, increase of 
the population of the country was about 4,000,- P^P^^^t^^^- 
000; at the beginning of the Civil War it was 
about 31,500,000, while today there are over 
70,000,000 people living within the boundaries 
of the United States. The increase in popula- 
tion since the Civil War has been greater than 
it was during the seventy years previous. This 
proves how great has been our prosperity since 
the close of the war. 

The disputes which brought about the war Late immi- 
having been settled, the soldiers of the two s^^*'^'"' 
great armies, at peace with all the w^orld, re- 
turned to their customary occupations. The 
free and happy government, together with the 
inexhaustible means of earning a livelihood- 
soil, forests, mines and factories— have brought 
thousands of foreigners to our shores, who have 
become citizens of the United States and have 
united with us in developing our resources and 



248 The United States 

in broadening our civilization. This has been 
accomplished by building cities, by clearing 
farms, by digging the earth or boring in the 
rocks for minerals, by utilizing water power, or 
substituting for it steam and electricity, in 
turning the great wheels of industry. It has 
also been accomplished by building railroads, 
resulting in reducing the time of communi- 
cation between points, by adding to the gen- 
eral intelligence and happiness in establishing 
universities, colleges and a system of free 
public schools, and by circulating the thought 
and news of the day through papers and 
magazines. All these, with other things, have 
helped to make our nation one of the fore- 
most of the earth. 
The country Tlic pcoplc of tlic United Statcs have within 
everything ^^^^ territory belonging to their country every- 
necessary to tiling uccessary to sustain life. It is true that 
sustain life. ^^^^ imports cach year are large. Yet those 
things which are imported can be considered 
more as luxuries than as necessary articles of 
life. Our soil and climate are so varied that 
not only do we raise sufficient food -stuffs for 
our own consumption, but also a large surplus 
with which the people of foreign countries are 
supplied. Our streams and the waters of the 
oceans abound with endless varieties of fish. 
Our forests give us lumber for building pur- 
poses. The ores and minerals found beneath 
the soil of our country are of untold wealth. 



The West 249 



THE WEST 



The growth of the United States since the Growth 
Civil War has been mainly westward. .The ^^^^f^^^ 

West 

extension of railroads has rendered this growth through the 
possible. In 1830 there were only about twenty ^^"i^^ing^f 

. A 1 • railways. 

miles of railroad m this country. At the time 
of the Civil War about 30,000 miles were in 
operation. Today nearly 175,000 miles of rails 
extend in all directions from Canada to Mexico 
and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and afford 
means for transporting passengers and freight 
quickly and in safety to within convenient 
distance of almost every home in the United 
States. 

The ambition of Colunibus was to discover 
a shorter route from Europe to the wealth of 
the East — the Indies, in Asia. When, after 
crossing the Atlantic he discovered land, he 
thought he had discovered such a route. But, 
in time, people realized that a new continent 
had been found, and then brave seamen came 
over to explore the rivers in the hope of 
finding a passage leading to the Pacific Ocean. 
Not for many years was the length and 
breadth of America fully known. The much- 
looked -for passage to the Indies was never 
found. 

During the first term of the presidency of 
General Grant the final rail was laid and the 
final spike was driven in the railroad which 



250 



The United States 



united the extreme eastern portion of our 
country with the extreme western shore. The 




e^.y«; 

y-; om a pnotograph loaned by General G. M Dodge 

Driving the Last Spike of the Union Pacific Railroad, 1869. 
Solution of 

the problem p^^^ifl^. EaiU^oad was completed in 1869. Sci- 

of the early . . /^ n i i j.i 

explorers, cuce and mveutive genms ImalJy solved the 



The West 251 

problem of a passage to India. But it was 
across the American continent. 

The distance from New York to San Fran- The oid and 
Cisco is 3,300 miles. A traveler e^oinsr from ^^'''^''^^ 

^ o & method of 

one City to the other may cover the distance in travel. 
the same time that it took George Washington 
to go from his home at Mount Vernon to New 
York at the time of his inauguration. Wash- 
ington ate his meals at inns and farmhouses. 
He slept wherever the end of his day's journey 
found him, in the spare -room of the cottage of 
a countryman, or in the candle-lighted sleeping 
apartment of a village hotel. Today the trav- 
eler eats his meals in a luxurious dining-car, 
with all the comforts of home, while his train is 
running at the rate of forty miles or more an 
hour. At night a porter prepares his bed for 
him in the car wdiere he has enjoyed the com- 
forts of a parlor and library during the day. 
When he sleeps at night he maj^ be winding 
through a mountainous region. But w^hen he 
rises in the morning to prepare for breakfast 
his train is on the flat prairies, w-ith the moun- 
tains left far behind. 

The building of the Pacific 'Railroad opened Settlement 
the western country to settlement. Now great p^J^'^^*'''"'' 
cities thrive in the center of rich farming lands 
or still wealthier mining districts, w^here but a 
few years ago the coyote and buffalo, the 
mountain lion and bear roamed at will. Vast 
herds of cattle have taken the place of the 



252 



The United States 



Industry 
and its 
fruits. 



The 

remnant of 
the Indians. 



buffalo, and grain ripens where once tlie prickly 
leaf of the cactus bade the adventurous i3ioneer 
a scanty welcome. The smoke and din of 
mining camps now greet the eye and ear, 
where but a few years ago uncut forests and 
seemingly inaccessible mountain ranges bade 
the seeker after wealth beware. Several lines 
of railroad now cross the continent, so that 
the South and Northwest are as accessible as 
the central portion of the West. 

In the harbors of the Pacific are ships 
from the ports of the world. Railroads 
which run to these harbors exchange the pro- 
duce of our western states for the wealth and 
exports of foreign lands. Railroads, schools, 
colleges, churches, great stores and handsome 
homes exist so far from Washington's grave at 
Mount Vernon that in his time a journey to the 
places where these have sprung up would have 
been considered most foolhardy, if not utterly 
impossible. 

The remaining tribes of Indians, the last 
remnant of that vast horde which made the 
settlement of America so dangerous for the 
early colonists, are now living peaceably on 
reservations allotted them by our government. 
Even until the present day, however, these 
tribes have been a source of danger and 
trouble to the settlers of our country. 

In 1876 the Sioux Indians, one of the fiercest 
of all the tribes, refused to move peaceably to 



The West 253 

the reservation allotted them by the United 
States. Troops were sent against the Indians 
to compel them to do as they were ordered. 
Dnring the ensuing trouble General Custer and General 
his troops were surrounded by the yelling ^''^^®''- 
savages, and before aid could reach them all 
the white men were killed. 

As a rule, however, the Indians are now 
peaceful and contented, and endeavoring to lead 
quiet lives on their reservations. Many of 
them are learning to farm. Schools have been 
established by the government for the edu- 
cation of the Indian boys and girls. It is 
hoped that the rising generation may become 
useful citizens. 

Althoucrh the invention of the steam encrine Cables now 
and its use in propellin«: ships across the ocean ^"^^^^ ^i^ , 

■"- -^ o ± parts of the 

greatly reduced the time necessary for com- worm, 
munication between Europe and America, it 
was felt that a quicker means of sending mes- 
sages and exchanging news should be estab- 
lished. People on land, although living many 
miles apart, could exchange greetings and news 
by means of the telegraph. Why could not a 
telegraphic communication be established across 
the ocean f This seemed a very great under- 
taking. But it was accomplished, after repeated 
failures and the expenditure of vast sums of 
money. In 1858 a line of cable uniting Amer- 
ica with the Old World was laid on the ocean 
bed. Only a few messages were sent before 



254 The United States 

this cable ceased to operate. Finally, however, 
in 1866, an improved line was laid, since which 
there has been uninterrupted cable communi- 
cation between this country and Europe. Now, 
events across the ocean, thousands of miles 
away, can be known here almost instantly. 
There are several lines of cable between the 
United States and distant lands. 
The growth The great strides of advancement our country 
has made within the past thirty years, particu- 
larly in the western portions of the United 
States, can be no more fittingly illustrated 
than by a brief survey of the growth of Chi- 
cago. This city is the metropolis of the West, 
— the mouth of the great streams of traffic 
which have their sources in the granaries, 
mines and forests of the West. 



CHICAGO 

Located on Lake Michigan, Chicago is the 
natural gateway from the East to the West. A 
score of railroad lines enter the city from all 
directions. Grreat ships, loaded with the pro- 
duce of the world, sail the lakes to be unloaded 
at the city's wharfs. Vast storehouses, where 
the crops of the West wait shipment to the con- 
sumers of the world, rise high into the air. In 
1871 a terrible fire destroyed property and 
human life on every hand. A large portion of 
the city was swept away. Before the dying 



Chicago 



255 



embers had cooled, the stricken citizens were 
making plans for the rebuilding of their town. 
Within a short time a new city, more beautiful, 
greater and finer in every respect, had grown 
on the ashes of the old Chicago. 

In 1871 the inhabitants of Chicago numbered 
310,000, while today there are more than 
2,000,000 busy people within the bounds of 
this great city. 












Court of Honor, World's Fair. 

When the four hundredth anniversary of the TheWorid' 
discovery of America by Columbus — 1492-1892 ^'''''' 
—was approaching, it was decided to celebrate 
this event by a great fair. The city of Chicago 
was chosen as the most suitable place in which 
to hold the exhibition. The World's Fair, or 
Columbian Exhibition of 1893— the opening of 
the fair was delayed until the spring of 1893 — 



256 The United States 

was a wonderful exhibition of the advancement 
and progress of man. 

CONTRAST 

When our Grreat is the contrast between the United 

wiryoung, States of today and that which Washington knew 
and loved. The citizens of the young republic had 
few of the advantages which our citizens have 
today. To secure the most good from life, 
free and frequent intercourse with one's fellow- 
men is necessary. The people, at the time 
when our republic was very young, lived in 
widely separated towns, or on farms distant 
from one another. All travel was by means 
of horses, slow and uncomfortable, or by boat, 
but little swifter and no more comfortable. 
The opportunities of sending or receiving letters 
were few. Books were scarce. The telegraph 
and telephone were unknown. Newspapers 
were for those only who lived in or near some 
one of the larger towns. 

All this is changed. The United States is 
a nation of thousands of well-populated com- 
munities. Great cities lie within a day's ride 
of one another from the Atlantic to the Eock- 
ies, and all along the western coast. The one 
city of Greater New York has nearly as many 
inhabitants as our entire nation had at the 
close of the Revolution. There are many towns 
larger by far than the city of New York was 



Contrast 257 

when, in 1789, Washington went there to be 
inaugurated. 

The journey from any one city to any other And in later 
is now accomplished with comfort and speed. ^^^^'^• 
Good roads are everywhere to be found, so that 
those hving in the country are able, with but 
little difficulty, to reach a town. Mail trains 
are running at high rate of speed every day to 
within a comparatively short distance of every 
home, and postmasters are kept busy every- 
where in the distribution of mail. The tele- 
graph and telephone supply the daily news- 
pa]3ers with the news. By these means the ah parts of 
homes of the United States are kept in touch t'^^/^^^t^y 

^ m touch 

with the doings of the rest of the country and through the 
the world. There are books in great numbers, easydistri- 
at prices which prevent no man from having knowledge 
at least a few good volumes at his command, ^ud means 
The resident of San Francisco or of Los ^ ''^''^* 
Angeles, in California, is in the midst of as 
busy and progressive a life, surrounded with 
the same cultivation and refinement of the age, 
as his eastern brother in Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia or Washington. The family in 
New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Columbia or 
Richmond is in sympathy and accord with its 
northern cousin. Portland, Oregon; Helena, 
Montana; Minneapolis, St. Paul, Ogden, Den- 
ver, Santa Fe, Omaha and Kansas City rival 
in importance the cities in the older central 
states, such as Cincinnati, St. Louis, Indian- 



258 



The United States 



Cities as 
centers of 
production. 



Today in 
the United 
States. 



apolis, Cleveland and Pittsburg. These and 
many more are abounding with life and prog- 
ress, each with its circle of busy towns and 
villages, and its prosperous farms, ranches, 
mining camps, and settlements. Each has its 
own special reason for existence, and each is 
being strengthened by the brain and muscle 
of America. The mining districts have their 
mountain cities, where the ore is smelted and 
refined, and the wealth of the rocks is made 
serviceable to man. The busy hum of machin- 
ery resounds on every side. 

Again, in the lumber districts, great cities 
have been built where the mighty monarchs of 
the forests are hewn and shaj^ed for the service 
of man. 

The peop^.e who spend their lives in the care 
of fur- and food -producing animals, and those 
who till the soil, have their cities into which 
the product of their labor pours, to be distrib- 
uted again to those who need it. 

The great harbors of the Atlantic and the 
Pacific have their cities into which the products 
of other lands come in mighty ships, to be 
exchanged for such growths and manufactures 
of ours as we do not need ourselves. So, too, 
on the great lakes and on the banks of many 
rivers, fine cities have been built where this 
exchange is being carried on. 

Everywhere are churches, schools, lecture- 
halls, theaters and other places of amusement 



Contrast 259 

and instruction. Every community has its 
societies, its clubs and its associations. The 
people throughout the country are in com- 
munication with one another, holding meet- 
ings from time to time for the purpose of 
exchanging the latest and best thought in 
that particular occupation to which their lives 
are devoted. Everyone is working hard for 
himself and for his neighbor and for his 
government. This is the United States of 
today. 

And the capital of these busy, happy people work in the 
is a city of nearly 300,000 inhabitants on the w^Jino-ton. 
noble Potomac. In Washington the President 
and Congress are doing the work for which 
they were elected by the people of the United 
States. It can make little difference whether 
they are members of one political party or of 
another. Ours is a government by the people, 
and the people of the United States are such 
as have been accustomed to be in the lead in 
the race of progress and civilization. But it The destiny 
rests with you, the children of our nation, to coimt%in 
see that in this race the country for which the hands of 
the colonists fought, and for which the people ''' '^''^'^''''' 
of the past one hundred and twenty years have 
labored, does not lose its foremost position and 
become a laggard and a follower. It is your 
muscle and your brain which are to uphold the 
foundations of our government and advance our 
civilization. In you is vested the responsibility 



260 The United States 

of guarding tliouglitfully the nation's honor 
and the nation's progress. 

The children of today are to be the men and 
women of tomorrow. 

18. EEC E NT TERRITORIAL EXPANSION 
ALASKA 

You have learned how our country has ex- 
panded from the time of the Ee volution, until 
the Pacific Ocean became its western limit and 
the present boundary line with Mexico was 
established. In those early days, you know, it 
embraced only the territory between the Mis- 
sissippi Eiver and the Atlantic Ocean, from 
Canada on the north to Florida in the south. 
Until 1867 the United States was a compact 
Purchase of natiou, contiuuous in its extent. In that year, 
Alaska. howcvcr, Alaska, which is separated from the 
United States by British Columbia, was pur- 
chased from Russia for $7,200,000. This dis- 
trict, which comprises about 577,000 square 
miles, is of great value to the United States 
because of its fisheries, its fur-bearing animals, 
its lumber and its untold mineral wealth. 

HAWAII 



The Two thousand one hundred miles from San 

Hawaiian Fraucisco, lying peacefully in the Pacific Ocean, 

are the Hawaiian Islands, the Sandwich Islands, 



Hawaii 261 

as they were once called. Consisting of several 
islands, the largest of which is Hawaii, this 
group is of importance because of its situation 
between the United States and Asia, on the line 
of traffic between the West and the East. The 
islands are nearly 7,000 square miles in extent, 
having a population in 1890 of about 90,000, 
of which not more than 35,000 were native 
Hawaiians, the remaining population being 
composed of Chinese, Japanese, Europeans and 
Americans. Of the latter there were, in 1890, 
about 2,000 in the islands. 

The Hawaiian Islands were governed by Their 
native kings or queens almost uninterruptedly ^^^^''^*^^^' 
from the time the islands became known 
to the world until 1894. Then a republic 
was established, with a president at its head. 
Steps were then taken to annex the Hawaiian 
Islands to the United States, annexation being 
finally accomplished in 1898. These islands of 
the mid-Pacific are now under our government. 
Sanford B. Dole was appointed by President 
McKinley (1900) the first governor of Hawaii. 

The existing form of government at the time 
of annexation has been little changed, the 
people of the United States not yet having 
fully determined the manner of governing 
these, the first of their island possessions. 

Sugar is the principal product of the Ha- 
waiian Islands, although the timber found there 
is of value. 



262 The United States 



POKTO EICO 



"Tiie Although the people of the United States are 

American stauiich advocates of the principles of arbitra- 
war. tion as a means of settling disputes between 

nations, and they will go to great extremes 
before resorting to the force of arms, yet, in 
1898, it became necessary for them to declare 
war with the kingdom of S]3ain. 

The first land seen and occupied by Colum- 
bus and his followers after their perilous voy- 
age across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain, in 
1492, was one of the Bahama Isles, in the 
archipelago which extends from Florida to 
South America. By right of discovery these 
islands of the West Indies were held by Spain. 
The largest of the group, Cuba, became the 
headquarters of the Spanish government in the 
discovery and conquest on the mainland. Al- 
though many of the hundreds of islands in this 
archipelago of the Caribbean Sea long since 
passed from the hands of Spain into the pos- 
session of other countries, Cuba, the largest 
and most important of all, and Porto Eico, 
' another of the most valuable of these islands, 

have from the time of Columbus until recently 
been held and governed by Spain. They were 
colonial possessions or provinces of Spain, 
with the exception of a few months (1762), 
when Cuba was held by Great Britain. 

Some of the governors sent by the Spanish 



Porto Rico 



263 



government to administer affairs in the island character of 
of Cuba were broad-minded, honest men, whose govemorl'^ 
ambition was to devote their energies to the of Cuba, 
welfare of the colonists. More of the govern- 
ors sent, however, were cruel and avaricious, 
thinking only of their own advancement and 




View of Matanzas, Cuba. 

gain, and caring nothing for the happiness and 
prosperity of the Cubans. 

The Cubans were excluded from the privilege 
of holding office; they were denied the right 
of religious and civil liberty, and they were 
oppressed by cruelly unjust taxation for the 
support of the Spanish officials and Spanish 



264 The United States 

armies sent to their island. Tiiis unfair treat- 
ment of the Cubans engendered in their hearts 
an intense hatred for the Spaniards. 
The struggle Siuce the early part of this century the 
Cubans. native Cubans, Creoles, as they are called, have 
striven to free themselves from the oppressive 
rule of Spain. The sympathy of the people 
of the United States had long been with the 
Cubans in their efforts to establish themselves 
under a government of their own. This effort 
on the part of the Cubans assumed a more 
definite and concerted form than ever before 
in 1893. This was just 400 years after the 
first white man set foot on the island. Two 
years later the Cubans declared their inde- 
pendence of Spain, which, of course, the 
Spanish government refused to acknowledge. 
Many soldiers were sent to Cuba to suppress 
the revolution. But the Cubans bravely held 
their own, although they were opposed by large 
numbers of Spanish soldiers. 

The difficulties that beset the Cuban patriots 
were much the same as those that the Ameri- 
can colonists had encountered : trouble in 
obtaining money ; lack of proper arms and 
other munitions of war; lack of clothing and 
food, and the opposition of superior forces, 
better trained and disciplined. But, whereas 
the American colonists were at war with a 
people who respected the laws of war and 
civilization, the Cubans, on the other hand, 



Porto Rico 265 

were contending against a nation which 

seemed to be utterly devoid of the common 

instincts of liumanity, and which practiced the 

most horrible atrocities in its vain endeavor to 

make the colonists bow to its tyrannical rule. 

The actions of the Spaniards in their treatment The attitude 

of prisoners of war, and in their cruelties to ""J^^"^ , 

^ ^ ' Spaniards. 

women and children, and sick and wounded 
soldiers, make a chapter in histoiy so bar- 
barous, so contrary to the instincts of man- 
hood, that we turn in horror from its perusal. 
In 1897 the United States government pro- 
tested to Spain against the manner in which 
she was treating the Cubans. To this pro- 
test the Spanish turned a deaf ear. So great 
became the cruelties of Spain, however, and 
so loud became the indignant protestations of 
the American people, that, in 1898, diplomatic 
relations between the two governments were 
severed, and, on April 19, war was declared 
by the United States. This action was pre- 
cipitated by an event which threw the whole 
country into the w^ildest state of excitement 
and called forth from all sides urgent pleas 
to the authorities in Washington to take im- 
mediate action. For the protection of Ameri- 
can interests on the island of Cuba the battle- 
ship Maine was sent to the harbor of Havana. 
At that time the United States and Spain 
were still on friendly terms, although the war 
clouds were rapidly gathering. Greeted by 



266 The United States 

the Spanish in Havana with the usual cour- 
tesy, and escorted to her anchorage by the 
Spanish authorities, the Maine rode in the 
harbor of Havana for three weeks, her pres- 
ence there being in an entirely friendly spirit. 

The On the evening of February 15, after all prep- 

destruction . i?il 'IXlTl 1 J^ 

of the arations for the night had been made, a ter- 

Maine. nfic cxplosiou rudcly awakened the Ameri- 

can sailors, who had barely time to leap 
to their feet before the gallant Maine sank to 
the bottom of Havana harbor. We shall 
probably never know who caused the explo- 
sion which sent to their graves 266 American 
sailors and carried grief and anger to the 
hearts of an entire nation. Spain expressed 
sympathy for the terrible event and disavowed 
any knowledge of the cause of the explosion. 
That the harbor was a network of submarine 
mines, that over one of these the Maine was 
anchored, that the mine exploded, destroying 
our ship and killing our sailors, are facts but too 
well known. The American people did not 
know what caused the mine to explode, but in 
their state of horror and indignation at the 
manner the Spanish were treating the Cubans it 
was difficult for them to believe that the ex- 
plosion was the result of an accident. The 
destruction of the Maine did much to hasten 
the declaration of war. 

In this dechiration, the United States insisted 
that the Cubans were, and by right ought to be, 



The Philippine Islands 



267 



free, and that Spain must withdraw her forces End of 



from Cuba, as well as from her other posses- ^^^^ein 



Spanish 
rule in 

sions in the West Indies. The declaration of America, 
war was so well supported by the bravery and 
impetuosity of the American soldiers and sailors 




Admiral Dewey. 



sent to Cuba that on the 12th of August, 1898, 
hostilities ceased, and Spanish rule was at an 
end in America. 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



The scene of the war with Spain was not 
restricted entirely to the West Indies. 



268 



The United States 




View of Manila, on 



The In the distant eastern waters of the Pacific, 

Philippine ^^^^ ^^^, from the coast of China, in Asia, is 

Islands. ' ' 

sitnated a gronp of over twelve hnndred islands 
known as the Philippine Islands, which were 
long in the possession of Spain. When this 
country declared war with Spain, a fleet of 
Spanish ships was in the waters of the Philip- 
pines. It was determined to destroy these 
ships, if possible, and to that end Commodore 
Dewey, who was in command of the United 
States war vessels assembled in the harbor of 
Hong Kong, was instructed to proceed to the 
Philippines and capture or destroy the fleet. 
The victory Ou the Ist of May, Commodore Dewey sailed 
of Manila. ^^^^ ^^iQ harbor of Manila, on Luzon, the lar- 
gest of the Philippines, engaged the fleet of 
the enemy and completely destroyed it. With- 
out the loss of a single American life, and 
with but little damage done to his ships, Dewey 
and his men annihilated the Spanish ships, 
sinking the entire fleet. As soon as the knowl- 
edge of this victory reached America, prepara- 
tions were made to send soldiers to the Phil- 



The Philippine Islands 



269 




Luzon, Philippine Islands. 

ippines to completely overcome the Spanish 
soldiers on the islands. This was successfully 
accomplished about the time hostilities ceased 
in the West Indies. When the war was at an 
end, the United States was in armed possession 
of Luzon, Porto Rico and Cuba. 

By the treaty of peace between the two The treaty 
nations, Cuba secured her freedom, and Porto ^^p^*^^^ 
Rico and the other Spanish islands of -the 
West Indies passed into the possession of the 
United States. The island of Guam, one of 
the Ladrones, and the Philippines were ceded 
by Spain to the United States on the payment 
of $20,000,000. The various islands which 
came into the possession of the United States 
were taken as a partial indemnity for the 
expenses of the war, while the money paid to 
Spain for the Philippines was considered but 
a fair return to her for the improvements 
which she had made on those islands. 

At the time of the declaration of war with 
Spain the natives of the Philippines were in 
insurrection against the home government. 



270 The United States 

Future t}-^q future govemmeiit of the Philippines 

ofihe ^^^^ <^f Porto Rico are matters which the 

Philippines, American people must decide. At present Cuba 
and cubZ^ ^^ being governed by the authorities of the 
United States. But this protectorate is to con- 
tinue only until such time as the Cubans them- 
selves shall feel capable of assuming control of 
their own affairs. The United States is simply 
acting as a protector to Cuba while that country 
is still weak and bleeding from the effects of its 
long struggle with Spain. 

By virtue of recent diplomatic negotiations, 
resulting in a treaty between Great Britain, 
Germany and the United States, our country 
has secured certain rights on the island of 
Tutuila, one of the islands of the Samoan 
group, in the Pacific Ocean. Your teacher will 
explain to you just what these privileges are, 
and wherein the United States has been bene- 
fited. You should carefully notice the loca- 
tion of the Samoan Islands in relation to 
Hawaii and the Philippines. 

By the acquisition of Porto Rico and the 
Philippines the United States has added about 
118,000 square miles to its territory and perhaps 
10,000,000 people to its population. Many of 
the Filipinos, however, are in an uncivilized or 
barbarous condition. 

The gaining of these island possessions, 
while adding to the area and population of 
our country, and while assuring an increase 



The Philippine Islands 



271 



of wealth to many of our citizens individually, 
as well as to our government, has at the same 
time brought to us new and great responsi- New ana 
bilities. We are hopeful of beiner able to solve ^^®^* 

, . , T , responsi- 

the problem of govermng the islands, not only bmties. 
with honor and profit to ourselves, but with 
justice to the people who are placed under 
the protection of our flag. 




The Flag of Today, 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 193. 
Alabama, admitted, 22G. 
Alaska, 8; purchase of, 260. 
America, discovery of, 60 ; named, 

01. 
Andros, rule of, 122. 
Arbitration, principles of, 245. 
Arizona, 8, 213, 228. 
Arkansas, admitted, 227. 
Articles of Confederation. 183. 

Bacon, rebellion of, 81. 
Bahama Islands, discovery of, 60. 
Baltimore, founding of, 112. 
Berkeley, William, 81 ; recalled, 82. 
Bond-servants in Virginia, 75 ; in 

Massachusetts, 9i. 
Boroiaghs, description of, 74. 
Boston, founding of, 90; "Tea-Party," 

162; port of, closed, 162; relief of, 

168. 
Bradford, William, 88. 
Buchanan, President, 231. 
Burgoyne, General, 171. 

Cable, Atlantic, 253. 

Cabot, John, 60. 

California, 213; admitted, 228. 

California Compromise, 228. 

Calvert, George, 110. 

Carolinas, the, 128. 

Carver, John, 87. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 144. 

Chicago, 254. 

Colonies, birth of, 27; extent of, 28 ; 
location of, 29; trouble in, 31; gov- 
ernment of, 32; revolt of, 35. 



Colonization, reasons for, 63. 

Columbian Exposition, 255. 

Columbus, Christopher, theories of, 
55; birth and early life of, 57; first 
voyage of, 58. 

Confederate States of America, 231. 

Congress, formation of, 10. 

Connecticut, founding of, 113; govern- 
ment of, 115. 

Constitution, the, 43; ratification of, 
44. 

Continental Congress, 39; First, 164; 
Second, 167. 

Cornwallis, Lord, surrender of, 168, 
172. 

Cotton gin, invention of, 224. 

Cuba, 262. 

Custer, General, death of, 253. 

Davis, Jefferson, 232. 

Declai'ation of Independence, 38, 167 ; 

recognized by France, 176. 
Delaware, beginnings of, 119; part of 

New Netherlands, 120; part of New 

York, 120 ; part of Pennsylvania, 

126. 
Dewey, George, 268. 
District of Columbia, 8; how governed, 

12; location of, 20; capital removed 

to, 49 ; extent of, 50 ; change in 

area, 51. 
Dole, Sanford B., 261. 
Dress, early, 188. 

"East,'" the, 56. 

Emancipation Proclamation, 240. 

Endicott, John, 89. 



(273) 



274 



INDEX 



Florida, purchase of, 205; admitted, 
227. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 177. 

French, colonization by, 143 ; fur- 
traders, 143; treatment of Indians, 
145. 

French and Indian War, 150. 

Fugitive Slave Law, 228. 

Fulton, Robert, 190. 

Gadsden Purchase, 213. 

Gage, General, 166. 

Georgia, beginnings of, 130; becomes 

Royal colony, 131. 
Gold, discovery of, 213. 
Government, state, 6 ; territorial, 8 ; 

district, 8; national, 9; colonial, 32. 
Grant, U. S., 241; becomes President, 

244. 
Greene, General, 171. 
Guam, Island of, 269. 

Hawaii, 8; annexation of, 260. 
Hayes, Rutherford B., 244. 
House of Representatives, 10. 
Howe, Lord, 168. 

Hudson, Henry, discoveries of, 100. 
Hutchinson, Mrs., 116. 

Idaho, 213. 

Illinois, admitted, 226. 

Import Duty, 155. 

Indian Territory, 8. 

Indiana, admitted, 226. 

Indians, 77, 132; tribes, 134; homes, 

134; women, 135; weapons, 137; and 

the colonists, 140; the Pequots, 142; 

the Iroquois, 146; present condition 

of, 252; the Sioux, 252. 
Internal Revenue, 158. 
Iowa, admitted, 227. 

Jackson, Andrew, 204; President, 206. 
Jamestown, founded, 67. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 193. 
Johnson, Andrew, 243. 



Kansas, territory organized, 228; ad- 
mitted, 229. 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 228. 
Keift, Governor, 105. 
Kentucky, admitted, 226. 
King William's War, 147. 
King George's War, 150. 

Lafayette, 175. 

La Salle, Robert de, 144. 

Laws, necessity for, 3; makers of, 5; 

enforcement of, 5, 13. 
Lee, Robert E., surrender of, 235,240. 
Lexington, Battle of, 166. 
Lincoln, Abraham, President, 215; 

birth of, 219; early life of, 220; as a 

young man, 222; in Congress, 223; 

first election, 230; assassination of, 

242. 
Louisiana, admitted, 226. 
Louisiana Purchase, 192, 199. 
Luzon, Island of, 268. 

Maine, beginnings of, 126; admitted, 
227. 

Maine, battleship, destroying of, 265. 

Manhattan Island, purchase of, 100. 

Marion, Gen. Francis, 172. 

Maryland, establishment of, 110; colo- 
nists of. 111; government of. 111. 

Massachusetts, establishment of, 97; 
Provincial Congress, 164. 

Massachusetts Bay, colony of, 89; 
John Winthrop governor of, 90 ; 
General Court of, 95; becomes Mas- 
sachusetts, 97. [97. 

Massachusetts and Virginia compared, 

"Mayflower," the, 80. 

Mexican War, 211. 

Michigan, admitted, 227. 

Minuet, Peter, 105, 119. 

Minute men, 165. 

Mississippi, admitted, 226. 

Mississippi valley open to settlement, 
144. 



INDEX 



75 



Missouri, admitted, 227. 
Missouri Compromise, 22G. 
Montgomery, Alabama, capital of the 

Confederate states, 232. 
Morris, Lewis, 122. 
Mount Vernon, 23. 

Nebraslia, territory organized, 228 ; 
admitted, 229. 

Nevada, 228. 

New Amsterdam, building of, 101. 

New England, named by John Smith, 
71; colonized, 8G; towns of, 90; the 
church of, 91; farms of, 92; slaves 
and bond-servants in, 94. 

New France, 144. 

New Hampshire, beginnings of, 126. 

New Haven, founding of, 114. 

New Jersey, beginnings of, 121; Lewis 
Morris governor of, 123, 

New Mexico, 8, 213; organized, 228. 

New Netherlands, established, 101; fur 
trade in, 101; towns of, 102; landed 
proprietors of, 103; government of, 
105; becomes New York, 108. 

New Orleans, battle of, 204. 

New Sweden established, 118. 

New York named, 108. 

North Carolina, establishment of, 128. 

Ohio, admitted, 22G. 
Oglethorpe, James, 130. 
Oklahoma, 8; territory formed, 9. 
Oregon, 213. 

Penn, William, 123. 

Pennsylvania, establishment of, 128 ; 
government of, 124. 

Pequots, 142. 

Philadelphia, founding of, 125 ; Eng- 
lish enter, 170. 

Philippine Islands, 8, 267. 

Pilgrims in Massachusetts, 86. 

Plantations, description of, 24. 

Plymouth, founding of, 87. 



"Poor Richard's Almanac," 178. 
Population of the United States, 244, 

247, 270. 
Porto Rico, 8, 262. 
President, duties of, 13; how elected, 

14; inauguration of, 17 
Providence, R. I., founding of, UG. 
Puritans, 83. 

Quakers, characteristics of, 123. 
Queen Anne's War, 149. 

Railroad, first, 209 ; first trans-conti- 
nental, 249. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 64. 

Resources of the United States, 248. 

Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions, 117; government of, 117. 

Richmond, Va., capital of Confeder- 
acy, 233. 

Salem, founding of, 89. 

Samoan Islands, 270. 

San Francisco, founding of, 213. 

Senate, 10. 

Slavery Question, 215, 224. 

Slaves, first brought to Virginia, 76; 

in New England, 94. 
Smith, John, 68. 
South Carolina, 129. 
Spanish-American War, causes of, 262 ; 

results of, 269. 
"Speedwell," the, 86. 
St. Mary's, 110. 
Stamp Act, 160. 
Stars and Stripes, 40. 
State Rights, 198, 208, 229. 
Steamboat, invention of, 190. 
Stephenson, George, 209. 
Stuyvesant, Peter, 107. 
Sumter, Fort, assault on, 232. 

Taxation, 152 ; direct, 155 ; indirect, 

156; on tea, 161. 
Tennessee, admitted, 226. 



276 



INDEX 



Territorial growth of United States, 

249, 270. 
Territories, 8. [227. 

Texas, Republic of, 212 ; admitted. 
Tobacco, first use of, 72 ; cultivation 

of, 73; used as money, 74. 
Travel, early, 187. 
Tutuila, Island of, 270. 

Utah, territory organized, 228. 

Vermont, beginnings of, 127; becomes 

a state, 127, 22G. 
Vespucius, Americus, Gl. 
Virginia, establishment of, 6G ; women 

in, 71; bond-servants in, 75; slaves 

in, 76 ; House of Burgesses, 79 ; 

first royal governor of, 80; capitals 

of, 82. 
Virginia and Massachusetts compared, 

97. 



War of 1812, causes of, 201 ; results 

of, 205. 
Washington, George, birth of, 25 ; 

sketch of, 34; elected President, 45; 

inaugurated, 47 ; second term, 52 ; 

death of, 52; in French and Indian 

War, 150; head of Continental Army, 

167. 
Washington, city of, 9, 50 ; captured 

by British, 204; at present, 259. 
Washington, state of, 213. 
West Virginia, formation of, 235. 
Whitney, Eli, 224. 
Williams, Roger, 115. 
Winthrop, John, 90. 
Wisconsin, admitted, 227. 
World's Fair, 255. 
Writs of Assistance, 160. 

Yorktown, surrender of Cornwallis at, 
172. 



A Short History of the United States 
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of Grecian life. The maps are excellent aiid the ilhistrations add greatly to the beauty 
and value of the book. As a text-book on Gi'eek History for High Schools I have not 
seen its equal, and I hope for its early adoption in our school."— O. D. Robinson, High 
School, Albany. 

European History 

AN OUTLINE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT 

By GEORGE BURTON ADAMS 

Professor of History in Yale University 

8vo Half Leather 13 Maps 125 Illustrations Price $1.40 

"Those who know Professor Adams' admirable 'Growth of the French Nation' will 
find here the same lucidity and correctness of grasp. It is becoming more and more 
difficult to write a satisfactory general history, but I believe that Professor Adams has 
constructed the best one that is now in existence within ths same scope The refer- 
ences, maps and topics make it possible to use this work as a basis for the intensive 
study of periods — a thing that can hardly be said of other general histories."— Pro/. 
U. G. Weatherly, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

New York Boston Chicago San Francisco 



JUN 27 1900 



